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Grandfather and grandson cycling duo Bob Montgomery, 82, and Tom Malcolm, 18, rolled into Boorowa on Friday, meeting the public at 3:30pm at the Old Courthouse, as their "Miles for MND: One Last Ride" neared its finish line.
The pair departed Broome on 22 June, aiming to raise $500,000 for Motor Neurone Disease NSW (MND NSW). This is Bob's sixth ride for the cause, with his rides together covering more than 20,000 kilometres and raising more than $360,000 for MND and Huntington's disease. Bob said his wife came up with the ride's name, but that did not necessarily mean the fundraising would stop.
"We've certainly got people following us now, and I don't see why we can't do this in different representations, all over the country," he said. "It'd be always nice to go back and meet a lot of the people we have met. They're fabulous people, real Australians."
Bob said awareness of motor neurone disease had grown enormously since his first ride a decade ago. "If I went back 10 years, people used to meet me in caravan parks asking, 'what's MND?' Now, as I traverse the countryside, people are definitely more affected, and it's working within itself that people know what to do and are keen to support it," he said.
Tom, who is studying politics, philosophy and economics at university, said this ride had been tougher than a previous trip he did with his grandfather to Melbourne. "It's been a lot harder. Especially in the last couple of weeks, it's been a lot more rushed, because I've got to get back to uni on the third of August," he said. "The connections you can make with people, and all the people that are impacted by motor neurone disease, has been very eye-opening. I didn't really expect it to be that widespread."
Bob and Tom's ride came during a period that has drawn national attention to motor neurone disease. AFL great Neale Daniher, who founded the FightMND charity after his own 2013 diagnosis, died in May, having helped raise more than $100 million for MND research and care. It took a decade for Daniher's advocacy to reach that profile, Bob noted, before praising South Sydney forward Jai Arrow, who announced his retirement from the National Rugby League (NRL) in May after his own MND diagnosis, for stepping forward publicly so early in his own journey.
Bob and Tom set off from Boorowa, early Saturday morning for the roughly 90-kilometre leg to Goulburn, before completing the final leg on Sunday arriving in Bowral at midday.
The Boorowa Ex-Services Club also got behind the pair, raising an extra $600 for the cause on Friday night.
IN MEMORIAM:
Bob completed his 5200 kilometre journey in Bowral on Sunday 2 August, celebrating with family, friends and supporters that evening. He passed away peacefully at home the following night, with his wife of 59 years, Jenny, by his side. He was 82.
In a statement, the Montgomery family thanked everyone across Australia who supported Bob and joined him on his One Last Ride, remembering him as a beautiful soul.