MCDONALD Park Primary school services officer (SSO) Shane Lewis has gone above and beyond to help kids across Australia who are battling cancer.
The Great Cycle Challenge Australia is a fundraiser event which runs through the month of October each year, with those involved setting personal riding goals to fight kids’ cancer.
At the time of print Lewis sat third in this year’s national standings with a total of $15,039.91 raised, while he also sits on top of the South Australian leaderboard.
Lewis has been riding the challenge since its inception in 2013 and has now raised over $50,000 towards the worthy cause.
“I have been doing it since they started it,” he said.
“I just saw it on Facebook originally in 2013 and though it sounded like fun.
“Then a few years later, we had a kid at school Jesse Wilke who came down with Leukaemia – that made it a bit more real.
“And this year my dad has had brain cancer, so that gave me a bit more incentive to keep going.”
There is no denying the cause is close to Lewis’ heart and his dedication is clear to see, with his rides inspired by Wilke and his family after the immense strength they showed to win his battle with the disease.
Lewis is over halfway towards his 1000km goal for this year’s challenge, while he smashed his target of $15,000 and has since raised it to $16,000.
However, that goal could also be under threat before the month is out.
Of his current funds, $6327.87 was donated by corporate sponsors on the Kick Cancer’s Butt Day, where all donations were matched for the day.
“Knowing they have that donor day, you get everyone to hold off and then go hard on that day,” Lewis said.
“I had a bit of a ring around and texted everybody and I got $7000 on that day.
“Then the sponsors put in another $6300.
“They try and double it and they had $750,000 on offer, but on the day people put in $880,000, so they gave us 85pc of what we got in on that day.”
Lewis’ all-time total clicked over $50,000 on Saturday – day 12 of this year’s challenge – and he said it was a crazy feeling.
“It is just mental,” he said.
“When I first started I was getting a couple of thousand a year, then it snuck up to five and last year it was eight.
“It is a good feeling, especially when you see you have raised over $50,000 – you think surely it’s made a difference somewhere.”
Lewis rides around 30km every day and has been accompanied by Mount Gambier Cycling Club president Dean Zeven throughout the journey.
“It has been really good with Dean Zeven, he lives nearby so we normally ride Tuesday and Thursday mornings anyway,” Lewis said.
“He has been riding with me those mornings and it has been good to have someone else there to cycle along with.
“I normally do about 24 to 30km a day.”
Lewis also swears by audio books, which help pass the time on his daily rides.
“If I am not riding I am running, so I do love an audio book,” he said.
With over 600 Australian children diagnosed with cancer every year and three dying from the disease each week, Lewis encouraged fellow cyclists to give the challenge a go.
“If it is already a hobby anyway, get into it,” he said.
“It is an easy way to raise money for some well-deserving kids.
“The Great Cycling Challenge mob do such a good job and it is so easy.
“With Facebook these days you can just point your friends in that direction with the link.”
Visit https://greatcyclechallenge.com.au/Riders/Lewy to donate to Lewis’ 2019 campaign.
