BROTHERS’ EPIC RIDE FOR CANCER AND MUM
FOUR brothers will cycle 2200km from the Gold Coast to Adelaide to raise money for the Cancer Council and early detection programs in honour of their late mother.
Kylan Beech, 20, came up with the first ‘220 for Tammy’ ride in 2019 – cycling 220km from Adelaide to hometown Barmera – three years after his mother died from lung cancer.
His mum Tammy was diagnosed on his 14th birthday and died within the year after the cancer “went everywhere”.
“The question mum always asked was why couldn’t we pick it up earlier?” Kylan recalls. “Because by the time it was detected it was too late, it was too far gone.
“A few years later I wanted to do something to honour her because it was such a terrible thing to go through, and I wanted to do something for families that don’t have the support that we had.”
In that inaugural 2019 ride, Kylan was joined by older brothers Jono, Nick, and Jordan, raising $30,000 for the Cancer Council. Their second ride ups the ante tenfold: mapping out a 2200km track across two weeks from the Gold Coast to Adelaide aiming to raise $50,000.
They plan to ride 160km a day, arriving in Adelaide on their mum’s birthday, November 12.
Kylan said the ride gives the brothers “bonding time we don’t normally get” and brings out some (healthy) sibling rivalry.
“We’re really competitive,” Kylan said. “Someone will always win a day or try to win the whole thing – even if it’s not a race.”
He jokes the group may have to turn the journey into a triathlon due to heavy rain and floods that have damaged and closed some roads. But nothing will deter their mammoth effort, he says.
Second-eldest brother Nick, 30, is amazed by his youngest brother and says it’s riding with his brothers and the six-person crew that keeps them “motivated”.
“That’s the part that helps you keep your mind focused and off the agony and sore muscles,” he said, adding they also got a “pep talk from the old man to rev us up” on Saturday morning.
Nick and Kylan think their mum would be very proud of their efforts.
“She’d love to see us boys coming together, raising money and remembering her this way,” Nick said. “Her big thing was family and being together all the time.”
“She’d be really proud we’re tyring to make a difference to other families, even if she couldn’t be saved or (the cancer) found early enough,” Kylan said.
“We’re trying to help other people. We want people to actually have a chance of finding (cancer) and fighting it.”
The team met at Broadwater Parklands on Friday, to hit the road at 8:30am.
You can support and follow the boys’ ride on the 220 For Tammy social media at the website www.220fortammy.com.