Every year, hundreds of cyclists from around Australia and overseas are drawn to the city of Cairns in tropical Far North Queensland to saddle up for the Mount Franklin Cardiac Challenge.
And every year, the fundraising bike ride from Cairns to Cooktown gains momentum: last year’s event included 279 riders, who raised in excess of $242,000 This event was launched in 2007 by the Far North Queensland Hospital Foundation and has raised in excess of $2 million.
The three-day, 333-kilometre ride attracts people from all walks of life: teenagers, new mums and retirees, cabinet makers and accountants, doctors, nurses and dentists, farmers, and pharmacists, pilots and school principals, lawyers, bus drivers and builders.