A great big thank you and congratulations goes out to the team ‘Rule Number 5′ raising over $11,000 AUD for the PFO Research Foundation

Megan from the team has kindly written the following summary for our website.

What a challenge! An incredible experience and a great fundraiser for two great causes.

Guess what: we have a touch over $11 000 for the PFO Foundation!!!!!

I am absolutely blown away by the support we have had from Qld through to WA. The people of Broome and the wider Gibb Community are now definitely more aware of PFO, how it affects patients and how great life can be on the other side. Personally, there is no way I could have completed this challenge without the team at Sharpe Cardiology and am so, so grateful that I was encouraged by Ross and my mother, Marlene to have the surgery in December 2013.

The challenge was 700kms of corrugated, hilly, dusty road from Derby to El Questro Station. We completed the challenge as a relay team of 5- myself, Kyle, Cass, Hilary and Aaron. It was freezing cold for the first 2 nights and it reached 38 degrees during the day. We rode for approximately 10kms at a time, the first day 230kms the next three averaging 140kms, the final day was 50kms. A Gibb highlight was when we made it into the ‘Group B’ starting group. This meant that we were in the starting group each morning with the fastest teams on the Challenge!! There were 3 other groups behind us. We were rewarded with cool, creek crossings at the end of each day before we set up camp. We ate with 400 other riders, volunteers and supporters driving vehicles for their teams and our bathroom and toilet was either non-existent, from a bucket or until the last 2 days when we had communal bathrooms.

We slept in SKINS to help the legs recover each night, woke at the crack of dawn each day to pack up camp, ate dehydrated mangoes and raspberries for fuel and sang to each other to psych ourselves up before our next riding stint.We got flat tyres, bent derailleurs and had to modify the way we tied our bikes down because the road was so rough the bikes were bouncing out! The comradeship between teams- whether known to us or not, was incredible. The mateship between teammates unforgettable. The banter on the UHF radio making the long kilometres bearable. Overall, one of the best experiences I have ever had. We will be back.

We wore the PFO Logo on our jerseys and explained our charity to fellow Gibbers. It was announced to the crowd at Ellenbrae Station what PFO is and the aim behind the Foundation. It has been in the Broome Paper and spread over the internet via our Facebook Page. We are still wearing our jerseys on rides now, answering questions that come our way. We hope our donation to the PFO Foundation will aide research for future and current PFO patients. This foundation is one close to my ‘heart’ and both my family and I will continue to support in the years to come. We’d like to thank our major sponsors again- Charlie’s Service Centre Millmerran, Pool Wisdom Broome, Envisage Building Solutions Kunnanurra, Marlene Erbs Snr Millmerran, Broome Veterinary Clinic, Landmark Broome, Ross Sharpe and Family and Dan Traves and Family.

Also a great big thank you to Broome Air Services air dropped our Jerseys to Home Valley Station which was Day 4 of the challenge after Australia Post stuffed the delivery up! Pete from BAS did this out of kindness and we are incredibly grateful for his generosity. Thanks again BAS!

We are currently putting together our photos and creating a movie of GO PRO videos and photos which we will share with you once complete. For now- please see the Rule #5 Facebook page for an album of photos.