By NICOLE WILLIAMS
HEATH Lyon had never ridden more than 50 kilometres when he lined up to ride 200 kilometres for the Ride to Conquer Cancer.
But the memory of his dad, who passed away from cancer in April last year, pushed him forward when he was struggling on the two-day ride.
“The Saturday was challenging, along Beach Road until Cranbourne East – and once there, it got hard with strong head winds,” the Berwick resident said.
“When I was struggling up the hills, I was thinking of Dad and what he went through and it spurred me along.”
The police officer said he signed up in memory of his dad with his best mate Ash Williams, a firefighter.
“He had a short battle with an aggressive cancer. As much as he denied it, it came down to smoking,” Mr Lyons said.
The memory of his dad was also very present during the fundraising stage, where he smashed the $2500 target to raise $11,000.
The intrigue started when Mr Lyons reactivated his Facebook page shortly before the anniversary of his dad’s death with a message that everything would be revealed.
“I’d been off Facebook for a few years, so what drew lot of attention when I did a countdown,” he said.
“I had a huge amount of interest – I told everyone what I was going on the one year anniversary of when dad passed away. It got a lot of initial donations.”
Mr Lyons also held a fund-raiser at his dad’s former football club (Clayton Football Club) which co-incided with a past-player reunion, held a raffle at his dad’s favourite watering hole and generally asked for support from friends and family.
“I raised a lot more than I thought. I thought I would struggle to raise the $2500 required,” he said.
“I went to the footy club where Dad played and was a life-member. And another venue, the Nottinghill Hotel – people were literally handing over money rather than asking for a ticket.”
Despite his fund-raising success, Mr Lyons said he was unlikely to sign up for the ride again next year.
“I might just do it the once, unless another special occasion comes up,” he said.
