What a week!
After a hard day on Day 4, up hill and downhill on extreme corrugation we were ready for the last challenge – PENTECOST River. Pentecost was the hardest river crossing on the challenge and was the big talk throughout the last week. The big question was: Will we be able to ride through? It is rocky and fast flowing with salt water crocodiles. Nervous as we were, shoes were off and the whole team rode through.. what a success.. we made it! What a feeling! with only 40 kms to go till El Questro, we couldn’t believe it. Some highlights from the trip would be the experience of being on the road every day, being catered for, camping with 400 fantastic people, stunning scenery, lots of support and just one chain break.... we must have been the luckiest team in the Challenge. We cannot praise the students enough, they were absolute legends, they include Mervyn, Christopher, Alison, Simara, Darren, Jannah, Memphis and Jayden. The other teams loved them and we were known for the mono’s – up hill, downhill, through river crossing and around the camp sites. We met so many people, and they were all so willing to help give the students work experience and apprenticeships and will help our team next year. If you ever lose faith in human beings, join in at the Gibb Challenge and your faith will be restored. The Bloody Heroic Volunteers were legends! It was an awesome experience for staff and students. A massive shout out to Tim, our team manager, we couldn’t have done it without him!!!!! and thank you also to staff members, Toby and Bayden, both Yiramalay Gibb Challenge Champions! Thanks for all your support during the event, it wasn't easy but worth it. Thanks to Ned and Helen and other staff at Yiramalay and in Melbourne – team effort = magic happens. Thank you also to our friends, families and supporters who generously donated to the The Royal Flying Doctors Service. We are forever grateful for this experience, and look out – we are nominating for next year as well. Bush Love Marte
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'Day 3
A hard day today! Lots of hills and a head wind but Toby did a massive job to keep us in the Challenge. We saw our first cane toad and did about 90kms today. Still having great meals. Tim did a presentation to a group about Yiramalay, we were really proud! It's been hard but spirits are still high and students still confident, positive and cooperative. The team is strong! Looking forward to tomorrow, once again bed early, under a starry sky! Day 4 We were on top of the world today!! A great view of the Cockburn Ranges, heaps of hills and we were quite competitive today but still supporting others as we went past or they went past. Sometimes it is chaotic. We had heaps of fun and our energy is high as we can see the finish line tomorrow. Home Valley is beautiful, we had a swim in the pool and the students chased cane toads while doing their bit for the cause! Looking forward to tomorrow and crossing the Pentecost River, we will fill you in when we get to the end. Thanks to all our supporters and families and friends. Bush love - Don't forget to donate at givematcher Another fantastic day on the Gibb River Challenge. All the students remained positive and fantastic when it came to packing the trailer and setting off for the ride. Darren rode really well for the second day and led the team for the first 60kms up to Galvin Gorge. They had a swim for an hour and did flips off the rocks then headed up to Mt Elizabeth to camp. The ride was a little harder today with a lot of water still over the crossings and a lot of hills and corrugation. Jannah had her birthday the day before and I sang Happy Birthday in Norwegian and ate cake with candles at the camp ground. The food on the Gibb Challenge is fantastic, we had stew and mash followed by carrot cake and went to bed early once again under the starry skies.
We look forward to our early wake up at 6am with the sound of the Rolling Stones blaring over the sound system to get us motivated for our next day of riding. Please don't forget to donate at Givematcher Bush love - Marte The team woke at 6 am to set off for the Gibb Challenge.
At the beginning of the ride everyone was talking about Mervin Warrie’s ‘mono wheelies’ at the start of the race. Baydo, Jayden, Darren, Mervin and Toby did a bulk of the morning ride. Unfortunately Jannah has a torn a muscle in her leg but hopefully will be able to ride later in the challenge, for today she is helping the team manager. We stopped for a nice lunch and then set off to Imaji to camp. The camp ground was chockablock but we found a nice spot and had a great feed and shower and went to bed early under a starry sky. The highlight of the day was the Yiramalay students meeting the Gibb Challenge riders on the bridge in their shirts and a big banner! Bush love from Marte - There is still time to donate at Givematcher A massive thank you to Azman from Crossing Automotive Services and Towing for the loan of a trailer for our Yiramalay students on the Gibb Challenge. It is great to be supported by local businesses in the Kimberley.
Bush love from Marte - don't forget to donate at Givematcher My name is Alison I am 15 years old. My hometown is Roebourne, and I am Banjima, Nguluma and Yindibarndi. I go to school at Yiramalay Studio School on Bunuba country. I love swimming in rivers, hanging out with friends and family and playing basketball. My favourite sport is basketball, and my favourite players are Michael Jordan and Lebron James. I have done a lot of acting in Roebourne, with the Big Hart mob. I was also in Hipbone Sticking Out, a theatre show about deaths in custody. We toured around Australia, where we went to Melbourne, Perth, Sydney and Canberra. I was really nervous, but it was a really fun experience.
I chose to ride the Gibb Challenge to raise money for the Royal Flying Doctors Service. They help people from my community when they can’t get to the doctor because it is too far away. I also want to make my community and family proud of me. It will be tough, but I am excited to do it! Support the Yiramalay Gibb Challenge team by making a donation at Givematcher My name is Jannah, I am 15. I am from Fitzroy Crossing, WA. My language group is Bunuba from my Mum's side, and my country is around Biridu community just out of Fitzroy. When we are out on country, we go fishing for barramundi, catfish, sawfish and brim. When I’m not at school in Yiramalay, I like hanging out with friends and family and going out bush. I like football and basketball, my favourite teams are Fremantle and the Spurs. Apart from those sports, I like to ride bikes and I learned how to ride when I was five. I decided to do the Gibb Challenge because it looked really fun, and I like a big challenge. I also wanted to help raise money for the Royal Flying Doctors Service who help sick people around my home town and remote areas.
Donate to the Yiramalay Gibb Challenge Team here This morning we had a ride in the first session. We decided to take training to the next level and ride through the Yiramalay Spring. This creek bed is deeper and longer than previous ones we had gone through. As a trained First Aid staff member, you think you are always prepared for most things including snake bite.. but what I didn’t see coming was the students on seeing a snake, going in different directions to avoid it and then crashing into each other. A bit of blood and sweat mixed up didn’t stop us. We rode to the spring and had a swim and rode back. Pretty sure we have the best training track for all the participants in the Gibb Challenge.
Bush Love - Marte. Dont forget to donate On Monday morning we were privileged to have Andi Jansen from Kimberley Cycle out here with his beautiful partner and gorgeous little baby girl Olivia (only 1 month old). Andi caught up with all the riders and took them for a ride down the road. Before the ride he had some warm up exercises for the students, they were given a few square meters to ride on and could not put their feet on the ground. It was fine when there where 4 - 6 riders in the square, but when there were 9 in that little square it was challenging, students had to focus on not crashing into one another or putting their feet down.
Andi has participated in the Gibb Challenge a few times so he was able to give us some ideas on how to handle the different challenges we will face on the road. Students were very much engaged, asking questions of Andi, who connected with all of them quickly. It is not going to easy – but hey..... we can do this. Please keep following our blog as the students will introduce themselves very soon and don't forget to donate . Bush love from Marte |