Excuse me for focusing on cycling with this article, but today I will be riding back into Dubbo with nine others after having travelled 1125km throughout the region. One of the interesting things about cycling – and much more so in competitive cycling – is the mentality of the peloton. Of course the concept of the peloton is that by working together everyone benefits. Indeed, the shape or formation of a peloton can change according to many factors. A strong headwind or side wind can result in a change of tempo for all riders or require some to establish a position that accommodates wind direction. In this way, you are working with your competitors and that seems like a strange thing.
In a way, Regional Organisations of Councils – or ROCs – are great examples of the peloton mentality. The peloton travels as an integrated unit with each rider making slight adjustments in response to their nearby riders, particularly the one in front of each. Teams will generally cluster their members in the peloton in order to maximise their ability to affect the pack as a whole. Many Councils across NSW have recognised the need to work more closely together to achieve greater efficiencies and to deliver significant benefits to all members. In our region, the Orana Regional Organisation of Councils (OROC) was established in 1997 and covers a massive geographical area – 188,470km2 (or 23.5 per cent of the State) – and encompasses the local government areas of Bogan (Nyngan), Bourke, Brewarrina, Cobar, Coonamble, Dubbo, Gilgandra, Narromine, Walgett, Warren, Warrumbungle. With so many riders in the peloton, so to speak, our ability to make an impact is multiplied.
In this particular case we all are racing toward something far more significant than a gold medal or Guinness World Record (which in fact we are, but that is by the by). We are riding in the inaugural Tour de OROC to raise funds for the Dubbo Base Hospital Accommodation Project. Dubbo may be leading the peloton in this 1125km ride, but this is not a one-man show. Our hospital serves a catchment population of 120,000 people from across the OROC and beyond. As Commonwealth cycling gold medallist and team leader Megan Dunn said earlier this week, “we are only as fast as our slowest cycler”. An affordable on-site accommodation facility for patients of the Dubbo Hospital would help make health care more accessible for all – never has the OROC had cause for such a unified and extreme approach to a joint fundraiser than this.
Truth be told we are actually in quite a fluid position where the centre of our peloton appears to be pushing through its own leading edge. As we make our way through each town, the core group of 10 riders are met and joined by the Mayor and local riders. An event hosted by each town helps raise additional funds for the cause.
After exceeding our initial target of $100,000 to go toward the $1 million Dubbo Base Hospital Accommodation Project before even mounting our bikes, we have a new figure in our sights – $200,000.
As the saying goes, two heads are better than one. In the case of OROC, 11 Councils can achieve more for the broader region than one. Had any of the Council’s individually attempted to raise funds for a cause such as the Dubbo Base Hospital Accommodation Project – which only months ago seemed so far out of reach it was hard to know where to start – we may not have even come close to the original $100,000 target. Despite the fact that OROC is geographically huge there is a strong sense of working together and helping each other.
I look forward to hundreds of Dubbonians riding their bikes the last 5km with the group on Saturday 12 October at 2.30pm from the Westview Caravan Park, opposite the old drive-in cinema on the edge of west Dubbo.
If you can’t join the ride and experience what it’s like to be part of the peloton, help us reach our new fundraising target of $200,000. Visit www.tourdeoroc.com/donate to donate or place a bid on one or more of over 60 items available for auction – including unique individual caricatures of the Mayors of the OROCs by internationally-recognised cartoonist Paul Zanetti, plane tickets, and more – at www.tourdeoroc/auction.
Tell me if you witnessed or experienced the peloton riding into Dubbo at the conclusion of Tour de OROC and what you thought at mayor@dubbo.nsw.gov.au.
Clr Mathew Dickerson
Mayor of the City of Dubbo