The FireFlies Antipodes is embarking on it’s second tour from 18th to 26th March 2017. The ride covers 1000km+ over seven gruelling days around Tasmania. Riders are dedicated to raising awareness and fundraising in the media world in aid of Beating Blood Cancers and Leukaemia.
Riding with the spirit and motto ‘For Those Who Suffer, We Ride’ the tour aims to raise AUD $30,000 for The Snowdome Foundation and their own fight against Blood Cancers.
The FireFlies Tour was established in London in 2001 by advertising executive Sandy Watson Scott, Chair, in recognition of relatives and friends’ battles with Cancer. Each year The FireFlies cycle 1,000km+ across the French Alps from Lake Geneva to Cannes and arrive during the Cannes Lions Advertising Festival.
RSA Films is the premier sponsor of the tour, which from the outset has been generously supported by the patrons: film directors Sir Ridley Scott and the late Tony Scott. Thanks to international media sponsors, The FireFlies have to date raised in excess of AUD$3 million to benefit the Hammersmith Hospital London, a world renowned leader in research and treatment of Leukaemia and other Blood Cancers. In 2007, FireFlies WEST was created, riding annually from San Francisco to Los Angeles raising money for the City of Hope Hospital in Southern California.
After completing The FireFlies Tour in 2013, Wilf Sweetland, Managing Partner of The Sweet Shop, brought the tour to Australia and New Zealand with riders completing the inaugural tour from Christchurch to Queenstown in February 2015.
Sweetland said, “The ride is both physically and emotionally punishing. You’ve got to want to do it, have the strength to do it and you’ve got to have the heart to do it. The courage it takes to face blood cancer is unthinkable, and I can say from experience, there’s no greater motivator when you’re climbing those peaks. The support, community and friendships we’ve now grown around this event are extraordinary too.
“We are honoured to once again be raising money for The Snowdome Foundation. They’re ‘unlocking new treatments’ into early phase human clinical trials of next generation drugs and therapies and making hope real for the 11,500 Australians diagnosed every year with Blood Cancers.”
