Bayside Leader: Two-wheeled heart starters

A 24-hour bike ride is enough to get anyone’s heart racing.

And these Bayside cyclists hope to raise enough money from a ride to buy new cardiac monitors for Sandringham and District Memorial Hospital.

Darren Eger, one of the event’s four organisers, said the 24-hour ride was about giving something back to the hospital.

Between 2006 and 2008, 246 people were treated at its emergency department for cycling-related injuries. Mr Eger said the ride would also emphasise the importance of cyclists having adequate lights at night.

The ride is from noon on Saturday, June 14 to noon the next day.

About 10 riders will travel on Beach Rd between the Black Rock clock tower and North Rd intersection, with six on the road at any one time.

They include Bayside community, hospital staff and riders from Cheltenham’s Omara Cycles, which is sponsoring the ride and providing uniforms and nutritional products.

All money raised from the ride will go towards buying IntelliVue cardiac monitors, valued at about $10,000 each, which will help the hospital’s emergency department screen patients who arrive with chest pain.

To sponsor: 9583 1068