WE KNOW country people are generous when it comes to helping out a mate and Casterton Sporting Motorcycle Club’s members and supporters kept that theme going at the weekend, raising more than $3000 for the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

Originally scheduled as a regular ride day – the last of the club’s events for this season – president Shane Foster said a few members had floated the idea of creating a breast cancer fundraising day out of the event, with the disease hitting close to home in recent months.

“They got talking after the last ride day and so a few went out thinking they might pick up a few things, three or four things, for a raffle,” Foster said.

“They mentioned it somewhere and all of a sudden businesses and people were donating everywhere.

“It went from being one raffle on the day, to what will be a much bigger raffle in the coming weeks.”

More than 80 riders – the youngest just four years old – hit the track at Dunrobin on Saturday, with all rider entry fees going into the fundraising kitty.

The huge swag of donated items was divided up, with smaller items going into a ‘pick of the pot’ raffle – more than 20 items to choose from – on the day, which added more than $1000 to the collection tin.

“We even had Ross Allen, our first aid man, he donated the fee that we pay him, back to the cause,” Foster said.

“It was just terrific, outstanding to see the generosity of businesses and individuals who donated all these great prizes … everything from toys to tool sets, vouchers … there was a bit of everything.

In addition to the table full of prizes collected by raffle winners on Saturday, several ‘big ticket’ items which were also donated, have been set aside for a bigger raffle, to be announced in coming weeks.

“We’ve got lawnmowers, power tools, a Weber barbecue … and there’s one big item, donated by Limestone Coast Motorcycles and Mowers, that we’ll reveal in coming weeks,” Foster said.

With an end to global pandemic lockdowns and restrictions, Foster said the club was also looking forward to reviving the popular ‘Boss of Blueberry’ Hill Climb event in 2023.

“We’re looking at running the hill climb again at the end of March, early April, next year,” he said.

“We’ve started our forward planning … our next step is to touch base with the people who have the property on the hill, who generously allow us to use that land for this event.”

He said in addition to the thrills and spills of the vertical challenge, the 2023 event would be combined with a day of racing.

“We’re looking at having a prologue event on the flat on the Saturday … riders can do a lap on a small track, the laps will be timed and used to decide starting positions for a race on Sunday.

“The juniors can’t ride in the hill climb, but they can come along and be part of it … they can prologue on the Saturday and race on the Sunday … we just want to get the families a bit more involved.”