Irish Meredith, Stuart Ingold, Glen Fitzgerald, Ron Hindmarsh, Bronte Hindmarsh and Cam Fitzgerald at the first Poker Run.
The Poker Run is yet again upon us on February 7, bringing plenty of joy, visitors, and, of course, financial support to the town as they look to once again smash their seemingly never-ending growing record. Starting as a ride around the area to different businesses and coming back to the Junee Showgrounds for a Blues Night, the day is packed every year. Their eyes are on a $40,000 record for the year.
The Junee Poker Run recently saw a new President fill the role in Jen Parsons, who will be taking on a hefty job as she manages an event filled with hundreds of keen riders. This is to support local charity Can Assist, which has raised over $110,000 in the past four years.
President of Junee Can Assist, Fiona Rynehart, said this support will go a long way as the cost of living rises.
“We are getting very organised. The catering committee are all underway, and things are getting organised,” she said. “We’ve got a lot of people involved again this year, so we are very fortunate. We’re off to a secret location for lunch.
“The secret location happened last year as well. We have breakfast up at the showground from 7:00am. We will do bacon and egg rolls, we will do a sausage sizzle, and we have cold drinks, tea, as well as coffee.”
Fiona mentioned a coffee van will also be there for those wanting a caffeine fix.
“The ride takes off at about 9:30am, and then we serve them lunch at the secret location before we come back and we have dinner back at the showground.
“This year, we are doing something a bit different. We will be serving our lamb and gravy rolls, but the owner behind the crazy pizzas and the kebabs is coming on board this year, and he’s going to be serving kebabs and doughnuts.
“We are just trying something a bit different. We will be serving from 5:30pm – 6:00pm. “We have got raffle tickets going around, we have been selling them for quite a while now. First prize is if you choose to have a Flight Centre voucher of $1,500 or you can have fuel vouchers for $1,500. That’s going really well.
“We are getting very organised with it all. “Last year, the Poker Run Committee gave us $40,000. It was absolutely amazing. “This year, we don’t expectany thing like that, but with whatever money we are going to get, we will concentrate this year on men with prostate cancer. We are helping a lot of different families in town. We’ve got a lot of emphasis put on men with prostate cancer this year.
“We’ve had quite a few clients, and we are trying to help them as much as we possibly can.
“We have got the Coolamon branch up and running, which is called the Canola Way CanAssist branch, and they are going really well.
“The Men’s Shed in Junee donated a beautiful rocking unicorn to them out at Coolamon, and they raffled that off, which started off all their fundraising for last year. It was just absolutely wonderful.“They sold a lot of tickets in that, and they are going very well over there now, which is really good.
“We will be trying to help as many people as we possibly can this year again. Medical expenses are getting more and more expensive. Treatment is getting a lot more expensive.
“This year has seen a lot of community backing, as previous years have, which gives the Poker Run optimism for an even stronger year. New President of the Poker Run, Jen Parsons, said, “Everything is getting organised. We’re pretty much done. The ride has been sorted, so we don’t advertise where we’re going, but I know that the ride coordinator has got it all down and they’ve done a few test runs, and it’s all pretty successful. We are doing all the final touches now and getting everything sorted, and then it’ll just be set up and everything on the day and the day before.
“It will take a lot of work being such a big event, especially in its 21st year.
“It is a lot of work, but it gets separated among all of the committee members quite well. They all work really well together, play to their strengths, and some have been there for longer, so they kind of know what’s going on. Everyone pitches in, which makes it really easy. It’s been running for 20 or 21 years this year, so a lot of it has already been setup. It’s just following the same map to get it all set up again each year.
“It is busy. The previous presidents, especially Tony, and committees as well, have really set it up well and having a committee that supports each other through everything is really positive and helpful. It’s not been too bad and not as challenging as I thought. Thank God for the committee, though.
“Cancer is probably one of the major things that touches everyone somehow. To be able to give back to the local community who are doing it tough and going through something that’s already impacting their life greatly, is really what we are all about. Any form of help is obviously appreciated, and it’s a really good way to give back and do that.
“The local support has been great. We’ve got a lot of sponsors, a lot of the regular sponsors as well as some new ones. It’s really positive to see how many sponsors we get that basically support what we are doing and to give us that help that we need to make sure that everything is going, whether it’s paying the sponsorship money or donating services or time in other ways. It’s really great to see how much of the local community and the wider Riverina get around it as well.
“Come down, check it out and support it. We always welcome new riders. It is such a great day. Everyone I know who’s participated has always had a really good time. If you don’t have a motorbike, we have a bus that they can go on as well. If they can’t make it for the day, then we have the Blues night as well, which is $15 entry, and that’s always a good night to finish everything off.”If people are available, then we would love to see them there.”
– Jack Murray
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