CHARITY cyclists are on fire this week in the region, with the 400in4 event riding through the region and meeting up with a special guest in Tamworth this week.
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The 400in4 event involves more than 100 cyclists and support crew, with 28 riders from NSW Fire and Rescue and 53 from Queensland Fire and Rescue, as part of the annual charity ride.
When they reached Tamworth, they’d already covered nearly 400km, with more than 600km to go to the finish line in Queensland, as this year they’re riding further.
Firefighter Brett Butler from the Gordon Fire and Rescue NSW station is on his seventh ride.
“The NSW firefighters got invited on the Queensland ride,” Mr Butler said.
“We will go back to the original (Wagga Wagga to Sydney) ride next year (which covers 400km in four days).”
The 400in4 has been going for 11 years, started by three firefighters who were cyclists.
“It gets bigger every year and raises more money every year,” Mr Butler said.
“Money from this ride will be donated to the Children’s Burns Unit at Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital in Brisbane. We are hoping to raise $100,000 and are on target to reach that. Donations are still welcome at www.400in4.org.”
Mr Butler said he enjoyed the social aspect of the ride and educating students along the way.
“All firefighters’ jobs are to educate people on fire safety,” he said.
One student who remembered the fire safety message for many years was Tamworth High School’s Josh McCulloch.
Josh was burned in a science experiment accident at the school two years ago and remembered to stop, drop and roll.
Mr Butler visited Josh in the Sydney Children’s Hospital in 2014.
“It’s great to get feedback out of Josh McCulloch,” Mr Butler said.
“We saw him in hospital two years ago when his mum wanted to thank us. He remembered to stop, drop and roll, which is now stop, drop, cover and roll, which lessened the impact of his burns. It’s the first time that the education side has come back to us and we know our message has got through.”
Josh said seeing the riders was “pretty amazing”.
“I saw them about two years ago and didn’t really know about the ride then,” he said.
Josh said he used to visit the unit each week, but now only went down twice a year. He said he was now interested in becoming a firefighter.
Josh’s mum, Janet Ryan, said she was thankful to the firefighters for teaching students what to do in an emergency.
“The other kids remembered the stop, drop and roll message, too, and encouraged him to roll when he was burned,” she said.
The firefighting cyclists and support crew stayed at Pirates Rugby Union Club on Wednesday night in Tamworth and thanked the club for their support.
They also thanked Teamo and the Inland Café, who supplied all coffees for free to about 110 people yesterday morning, and to Southgate Inn for looking after dinner on Wednesday night.
