breakfast at the Cobar Bowling & Golf Club last week. In addition to feeding them, the
Cobar club also handed over a donation totalling $1,000 with the Cobar Bowling & Golf
Club also chipping in with a $500 donation. Pictured at the presentation are Rotary Club
of Cobar’s secretary Gordon Hill and president David Snelson with Rotary Club of
Dubbo South member Andrew Graham.
This year’s Tour de OROC charity ride
raised almost $150,000 for the Macquarie
Home Stay accommodation facility in Dubbo.
Among the group of riders in this year’s
charity event were Cobar cyclist Trudy Griffiths,
former Cobar resident and retained firefighter
Chris Freeman (from Mudgee) and
another former resident, Stuart Harland (who
now lives in Dubbo).
The riders and their support crew were given
a warm reception as they rode from Bourke
into Cobar last Thursday afternoon.
They were met with a cooling spray of water
(provided by Freeman’s Fire and Rescue
NSW Cobar Station 256 former crew) along
with a group of local bystanders who cheered
them on as they rode in.
Thursday was Day 4 of the six day 1,140km
ride with the group having ridden 160km that
day from Bourke to Cobar in very warm conditions
Rotary Club of Dubbo South president Matthew
Dickerson said while this year’s event
had come up a bit short on the $170,000 tally
they raised on their last ride in 2020, they were
however pleased with the huge effort put in by
all those involved.
Trudy was one of the highest individual
fundraisers with a tally of close to $8,500,
Chris individually contributed $2,348 (which
included a $500 donation from the Cobar
Firies) and Stuart raised $3,961.
Andrew Graham from the Rotary Club of
Dubbo South spoke at Thursday’s dinner and
praised the Rotary Club of Cobar members for
their warm welcome, their practical help with
catering and also their donation of $1,000.
“The success of an event like this depends so
much on the local communities we go through
and to be able to rely on the Cobar Rotary
Club is just fantastic,” Mr Graham said.
Rotary Club of Cobar secretary Gordon Hill
said the Cobar club had supported the biennial
Tour de OROC event since its inception in
2013.
“It is something that is essential for our community.
I think statistics prove that one in five
people who use Macquarie Home Stay come
from the Cobar district, so it’s a facility that is
well used and Rotary have been keen to support
it all the way through,” Mr Hill said.
On Monday Trudy said apart from “a sore
bum” she’d pulled up “pretty good” after the
ride.
“They were a great bunch of like-minded
friendly people with a supportive crew.”
