Ride Report 2006

We did it! Again!!

Thank you so much to everyone who come along today and helped us bring a bit of magic to the streets of Sydney. The spectacle of our parade could only be described as pure magic. This year the ride looked even more fabulous as we had more time to paint everyone and even more riders. Out on the road there was a huge long column of massed colourful bodies. Looking back from the front of the ride as we travelled along Rainbow St it just looked incredible. Over each small rise in the road came crowds of red, blue, pink… it was a breathtaking sight. Hard to believe, and totally disconcerting for those who weren’t expecting it.

Once again it was the individual good will of every participant that made the ride so much fun. Someone could write a sociology paper on the curious way that people who are painted the same colour instantly bond to form a fiercely united team, rallying behind their Captain to prove themselves the best colour to be! Our riders displayed a great sense of humour and there was a lot of high spirited banter as we rode along.

The silver marshals seemed to be everywhere today, guiding us along the road to the beach and making sure that everyone was riding safely. We had double the number of Marshals this year and they seemed to be completely in control of the situation. Special mention must go to our Chief Marshal Paul Johnson who bore the heavy responsibility of leading the procession, deciding when to stop and go and keeping everyone together as much as safety and traffic conditions would allow. I thought he did a fantastic job. Paul seemed to have an almost telepathic level of communication going between himself and his crew of silver riders.

This year we had about 300 people including our support teams of painters, luggage and registration staff. My personal thrill was the appearance of the mounted police at our event, they kept the children (and grown ups) entertained, even allowing us to add painted designs to their horses, they were really friendly and seemed to enjoy the whole spectacle. Thank you to Natasha who captained our luggage team. Bronwyn who ran the registration desk and Wendy who ran the paint team and everything else. All of them did a fabulous job, making a complex event run very smoothly.