A ride for life

By Shaun Inguanzo
AN EMERALD resident is one of more than 400 female motorcyclists expected to ride from Burwood to Healesville this month to raise awareness about breast cancer.
Rhonda Markham, 39, will mount her Harley Davidson 883 Sportster and take the tour through the Dandenong Ranges and into the Yarra Valley with the Women’s International Motorcycling Association (WIMA).
To be held on the 23 October, the event last year attracted 405 riders according to Ms Markham, with a similar number expected this year.
Ms Markham is WIMA’s Victorian president.
She said the route would be kicked off with a delicious breakfast at the Burvale Hotel, and would include several regroup points due to the volume of riders, and a police escort to help avoid traffic chaos.
Former model, crime fiction writer and club member Tara Moss will be joining WIMA as its members aim to raise breast cancer awareness
“We will start at the Burvale Hotel, corner Springvale Road and Burwood Highway, where the pub will throw on a five buck hot breakfast,” Ms Markham said.
“Then we are going to be getting escorted (by police) as we ride over the top of Mount Dandenong on the Mountain Highway, and back into Lilydale, then on to Healesville to the Maroondah Dam.”
Once there, Ms Markham said stalls with motorcycling paraphernalia, and food and drink, will be available.
Ms Markham said she had not suffered from breast cancer but that it affected many women involved with WIMA.
She said women chose to ride, including herself, because of the freedom it offered.
“I have been riding for 24 years and I can’t give it up,” she said.
“It is just the freedom of it all, the smells, the sights, and the adrenaline.
“There is no time to think about anything else, it is all about the bike.”
Anyone who wants to join the ride can register on www.wima.org.au/vic/