By 2017, Julian had moved on from PBA FM, first to Coast FM then latterly to KSA. But still he was plugging LCFN and telling his listeners that one day, he was going to get this bloke over from Scotland to do a bike ride in Australia.
Unbeknown to me, he was doing his homework behind the scenes and Julian discovered the charity Neuroblastoma Australia, headed up by Lucy Jones. Lucy lost her own daughter, Sienna, to Neuroblastoma in 2010 and made it her lifelong goal to support laboratory research into the disease at the world leading Children’s Cancer Institute in Sydney.
Neuroblastoma Australia is a tiny wee organisation with a big beating heart.
Julian and Lucy exchanged emails behind the scenes, Lucy probably thinking “who is this guy on the bike” before an email from Neuroblastoma Australia arrived in my inbox.
The idea of Ride2Cure was conceived.
When I say that Neuroblastoma Australia is a tiny charity, what I mean is that it’s a tiny charity. It focusses on events, and does its marketing through the web, through the media and through press releases: it manages that by using the skillsets of professionals on an as required basis and together, they make it work.
Ride2Cure started out life as an idea, then Paul and I kicked it about in terms of a route before Lucy provided some guidance on how we might make that fit alongside the branding that Neuroblastoma Australia already had in place for other events: the website was purpose built to raise global awareness, then the PR arm kicked in with targeted press releases as we headed down the road. As an exercise in how to achieve positive results on a shoestring budget, it worked like a charm.
Perhaps the most remarkable part of Ride2Cure was how it all just worked. Lucy directed the show, Karina built the website, Deanna ran the media circus, Paul drove the motor home, Neil built the bike and I rode it: oh, and between us, Neil and I designed the kit which was manufactured in Germany then shipped out to Australia for sale on the website through Lucy. Meanwhile, back in Adelaide, Julian co-ordinated the local radio stations for my arrival. Seven people who were good at their jobs and who all got on with each other. No egos, just a result.
And it all came out of the blue.
Ride2Cure Neuroblastoma 