A WHOPPING $11,000 was raised by former St. Arnaud resident Jackie Peacock at last weekend’s 2016 Penrite Hattah Desert Race, July 1-3.
The inspirational rider wanted to raise as much money as possible for The McGrath Foundation, where a breast cancer nurse helped her Mum, Wendy Peacock, of St. Arnaud, through her illness last year.
The 35-year-old was blown away by the support. “We had a donation box set-up at Scrutineering on Friday night before the event where we raised about $250 and Shannon Moiler from the Northwest Victorian Motorcycle Club had a fundraiser himself and raised about $250 from Sunraysia TAFE,” Jackie said.
“We cracked the $10,000 mark on Sunday morning before the race. It was fantastic to reach that goal and to be able to enjoy the day,” Jackie said.
Jackie impressively ended up in 193rd place overall after starting the race from 325th place, spent 5 hours on the bike, travelled 250 kilometres, as well as finishing in a very respectable seventh in the Tenacious Women of Hattah class.
“The race was great fun. I got six laps in and the last couple of laps were really rough but I enjoyed the race. I didn’t really have many mishaps at all and got a good run through the whole thing,” Jackie added.
“I love the start of Hattah. It’s great fun taking off,” Jackie said. “The Northwest Victorian Motorcycle Club donated $100 for every lap that I did to The McGrath Foundation, which meant another $600. That was very generous from the club,” she added.
Asked if she planned on making it an annual fundraising event, Jackie replied: “We could make it an annual event if there’s enough support behind it. Hattah is such a big event,” she said.
Jackie would like to thank the businesses who so generously donated to the fundraiser: Goldfields Café & Baked Potatoes, Ringmaster Images, Indulge Apartments, Sixty7 MX Racewear, Raceline Motorcycles, and Active Fitness & PT.
She’d also like to thank her entire family for all her support, her pit crew and Niki Sampson and Shaun Gosgriff. “I didn’t do too much, I just rode, so I’d like to thank everyone who donated,” Jackie added.
