Ride4Life ran three rides in March with all proceeds going to Lifeline. We had new rides starting in Melbourne and Shepparton as well as our long standing commitment to the Central Victorian Suicide Prevention Awareness Network. Several of our members rode with these new rides to help newcomers that depleted our usually strong Bendigo ride. No doubt it will all be worth it in years to come as all the rides grow and new ones are established. If you are interested in running a ride in your neck of the woods, then send the committee an email.

Ride4Life committee members are all volunteers and 100% of the registration fees together with all donations go to our nominated charity which on this occasion was Lifeline Central Victoria and Mallee.

Ride4Life firmly believe that there is no point in raising money for a charitable organisation, no matter how worthy and just handing over the money. If we were to do that, then it would probably end up contributing in some way to that organisation's administration. We want to see all our funds raised going to a particular project.

Lifeline have been great to work with in this regard and this year the project is that all the money raised will go towards direct training of frontline telephone volunteers. We are excited to see that the money is directly impacting on people and helping avert potential crises. We have nothing but the highest regard and respect for these Lifeline volunteers who put themselves on the line emotionally with every shift they perform. Of course Lifeline has all the peer support programs in place to look after their volunteers properly.

Our rides this year were marred by terrible weather. It wasn't raining, it was worse than that. Seasoned riders have no issue with a bit of rain, but wind like there was that day is another thing altogether. There were branches blown from trees, stick and debris lying on roads and wind gusts that had you leaning from one side to the next to keep a bike upright. This weather had a considerable impact upon our registration numbers this year. To those of you who showed up and rode, our heartfelt thanks. Without you we could not have raised the money we did for Lifeline.

The net total amount raised after advertising costs was $3,907.00. We trust we will significantly improve on this amount next year as with better weather there are always more riders. A big thank you to everyone who was involved in all the planning and organising of this day. It doesn't happen without the input of a number of Ride4Life members who are committed to the organisation's motto of "Mental Health Matters".