Hawaiian Ride for Youth
Hawaiian Ride for Youth19MarAll Day23DisciplineRoadAlbany, WA
Event Details
Hawaiian Ride for Youth is one of Australia’s premier charity events over 5 days, travelling through rural Western Australia Hawaiian Ride for Youth
Event Details
Hawaiian Ride for Youth is one of Australia’s premier charity events over 5 days, travelling through rural Western Australia
Hawaiian Ride for Youth is one of Australia’s premier charity events for the prevention of youth suicide and depression. This ride keeps on growing and is slowly getting bigger each year with new routes being added to accommodate the increasing interest.
The ride does two things. Firstly, it raises much-needed money to fund youth mental health services in rural country towns, through Youth Focus. Youth Focus provides some invaluable services through rural and remote WA.
The other purpose of the ride is to inspire youth and young adults by visiting schools along the way. Riders will visit high schools and engage with students about youth suicide, depression, anxiety and self-harm, as well as inform them of the services that Youth Focus provides.
The Hawaiian Ride for Youth starts in Albany. Riders will then cycle back to Perth through towns in WA’s South West, Great Southern, Wheatbelt and Mid West.
The ride is held over 4 1/2 days with riders riding through a series of different routes. After registration, the riders are split into teams so that they can work together to fundraise the required donations to Youth Focus. To make sure you’ll be fit enough to finish the ride, there is a training program along with training rides from September all the way through to the ride date in March. The first day is set for the travel to the start destinations before the action starts. Over the course of the following 4 1/2 days, the riders will cover approximately 700 km. Some routes have greater elevations than others but you would expect to cover in excess of 4000m for the trip.
Numbers for the ride are limited to between 120 and 160 riders depending on which route you will be on. Each peloton has up to 60 riders, with final numbers being based on the availability of accommodation along the route.
The ride first started in 2003 when a small group of recreational cyclists decided to work together to raise money for Youth Focus by riding from Albany to Perth along the coast. The ride has now grown to include 3 other routes. The routes are:
- Coastal route from Albany to Perth, travelling through Walpole, Pemberton and Busselton before meeting other riders in Mandurah
- Inland route from Albany to Perth, through Frankland River, Bridgetown, and Collie before meeting other riders in Mandurah
- Wheatbelt route from Albany through the southern Wheatbelt of Katanning and Narrogin, before turning west to meet the other riders in Mandurah
Riders are all taken by bus from Perth to their start location at Albany. The ride finishes at UWA, with the peloton of all 3 groups riding to the finish together. A function is held about 2 to 4 weeks after the finish of the ride, to catch up and to celebrate the achievement.
The registration for the Hawaiian Ride for Youth opens in early June/July with team members chosen in late July or August. This is a ride that you have to apply for, and there are more applicants than places.
This is a great ride to attend. I participated in 2014 and 2015 and thoroughly enjoyed it. The fundraising requirements might feel scary but the team approach to raising the money means that you aren’t doing it alone. Plus you’ll be cycling with a bunch of people who feel passionate about a good cause!
You’ll find other cycling events, like the Hawaiian Ride for Youth, in our online Cycling Event Calendar.
Enjoy!
Number of days
5 days
Location: Start
Albany, WA
Location: Finish
Perth, WA
This is a ride, where the ride is the reward for all the effort of working to raise funds and training together. Having done two rides, the inland and the coastal routes. The routes required the peloton to travel between towns and speaking to high school children to share the message of the services that Youth Focus offers. This results in a story from one of the riders and then a Q and A session.
Note that when planning starts early for the ride. the expression of interest are opened around June/July with a selection process. your place is confirmed around August with training starting in Sept/October. Speaking of training, this is a structured and gradual increase in the build up of the load to target your strength and endurance to endure the 700+km ride week. As a consequence you may loose a few kg’s like i did.
Each ride is a different experience from traveling through the tall valley of the Giants Jarrah and Karrie trees around Denmark, Walpole and Pemberton with rolling undulation, great riding country. Then on the Inland ride the peloton had dinner at a winery, what a shame.
it is no easy statement to have been awarded one of the best charity events, let alone cycling events. After having done this ride twice i can see why and i can recommend this for any bucket list. It will be back on my bucket list.