Tour de Crawf hits WA!

Well, what can I say about Crawf that Sazm hasn't already said !!! He is a truly amazing man.

When I was asked to organise an event in Mildura for Shane's stop-over I was stumped .... for all of 10 minutes, then the brain kicked into gear!!!

I found a beautiful venue at the Rowing Club Lawns on the banks of the Murray River, got the kids amusements and the coffee, ice cream and b.b.q vendors organised. The Mildura Shire Council were so helpful with paperwork etc ... all the red tape of event organisation was cut through then "helpers materialised"

Through networking I assembled a PINK ARMY .... Rhonds'a Amusements set up jumping castles and a merry-go-round, Sunraysia Cancer Resources, Young Women's Support Group, Dragonboat Club members, my Wentworth Tai Chi and RSL Women's Auxiliary, family and friends ... all determined to help make this an exciting event.

We had a Pink Ladies' Beauty Parlour - hair colouring, manicures, face painting, tattoos etc ..... raffle ticket sales, donation table, merchandise sales, Field of Women with memorial tags, helium filled balloons and of course the BIG PINK TRUCK !!!

The weather wasn't the best, a few showers and a little bit of wind, but the sun came out just as Shane rode across the bridge from NSW into Victoria. My wonderful partner Terry (who pinked up his beard and hair for the occasion) walked around and made sure everyone had their pink ponchos.

The crowd gathered from 2pm, and by the time Shane arrived around 4 there were PINK people every where. When he came up onto the stage it was hard to imagine he had just cycled 225k, his speech was so bright and cheery (and cheeky !!!)

He met and spoke to so many people, my committee, survivors, admirers (and there were over 1,000 of them), signed shirts, footballs and anything people passed to him.

It was such a wonderful and successful day, not only for the money that was raised on the day but also for creating awareness for BCNA and the work we do.

I have been "stalking" him through the AFL Footy Show and the "Tour de Crawf Ride to the Other Side" pages, watching his progress through this very large country of ours and my admiration for this "Aussie Bloke" grows every day.

Crawf, you are a true inspiration to all of us .... see you on the "other side"

Luv ShirlO