Perkins ride raises more than $4m

This year’s MACA Ride to Conquer Cancer has raised $4.1 million to support work at the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research.

The event has raised $27.5 million for research since its inception six years ago. This year's raising was better than last year's $4 million effort, but below the $5.2 million peak in 2014 when around 1,300 riders took part and the economy was far stronger at the tail end of the mining boom.

The two-day ride, which attracted 855 riders and finished yesterday, took cyclists from Perth to Mandurah and back.

The Maca Ride to Conquer Cancer supports research at the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research, Western Australia's largest medical research institute investigating the major diseases affecting adults.

The institue’s director, Peter Leedman, said the riders, donors, volunteers, and sponsors made a significant difference to the institute’s research.

“With one in two Australian men and one in three Australian women diagnosed with cancer before the age of 85, we research many different cancer types, particularly the hard to treat cancers such as triple negative breast cancer, drug resistant melanoma, pancreatic cancer, liver cancer, brain tumours”, he said.

“Thanks to the funds raised through the ride, our internationally renowned research teams, doctors and clinicians are able to develop new treatments and advance our understanding of diseases, which result in improved health in our community.”

Professor Leedman said the riders were remarkable and many trained for months to complete the 200km round-trip.

Maca general manager Tim Gooch previously told Business News the ride’s success could be attributed to the prevalence of cancer and that a large number of participants were able to relate to the cause.

Maca entered the largest team this year, with 275 riders raising $1.3 million.

They were riding in honour of their team member Daniel Frost, who died of bowel cancer at the age of 33 in March.

“Our employees, our community of friends and family members, have all been personally impacted by cancer and it is a continued honour to support the Perkins advancements in medical research in order to better the lives of cancer patients and support their mission to conquer cancer,” Maca executive director, operations, Geoff Baker said.

Woodside Petroleum, the second largest team in this year’s ride (100 riders), has raised more than $1 million since the first ride in 2012.

“My motivation for doing the ride is in the memory of my sister Lisa who recently passed away from ovarian cancer at the age of 47, my father, John, who passed away from prostate cancer at the age of 49 and my best mate Adam Dean, who recently passed away from bowel cancer at the age of 49,” Woodside teammate Darren Hospital said.