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NOVEMBER 2020
By Klaus Zillner, Member #4515 No doubt most riders are familiar with the annual Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride (DGR) when “dapper gentlefolk” ride united for a purpose - to change the face of men’s health alongside “Movember”. As the DGR website states: “The Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride unites classic and vintage style motorcycle riders all over the world to raise funds and awareness for prostate cancer research and men’s mental health. The Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride was founded in Sydney, Australia, by Mark Hawwa. It was inspired by a photo of TV Show Mad Men’s Don Draper astride a classic bike and wearing his finest suit. Mark decided a themed ride would be a great way of connecting niche motorcycle enthusiasts and communities while raising funds to support the men in our lives.”
Now more than ever, it is important that we ride for the physical and mental wellbeing of the men (and women, one may add) in our lives. “Movember” has already funded over 1200 men’s health projects globally and invested an impressive $21.5 million in prostate cancer research and mental health initiatives since 2016. This year saw the creation of a brand new $1.15 million DGR Social Connections Challenge (https://www.gentlemansride.com/) to help tackle social isolation and poor mental health within the motorcycle community. The founding members are also finalising a new multi-milliondollar program to help first responders and military
DISTINGUISHED GENTS RIDE veterans in our community. This year’s DGR ride was held on Sunday 27 September (worldwide) with classic and vintage style motorcycles riding for the aforesaid cause. What was different this year was the dreaded Covid Pandemic forcing the organisers to announce “solo rides” instead, in line with local social distancing rules and other restrictions: “The 2020 ride will be a solo event to comply with all local social distancing restrictions and will take an adjusted format to connect every rider to the cause from around the world no matter their social distancing regulations. We are maintaining a consistent global message that there will be no mass-participation event, but just because we’re not riding in groups doesn’t mean we’re not dressing dapper and riding! 2020 is our year to prove how connected and caring we are. We will be riding on the same day and for the same cause, but it will be solo. Socially distanced, but globally connected.“
We were indeed very fortunate in QLD that we were able to ride in groups and we looked around for an organised DGR event in the Wide Bay Area. In the absence of such I decided to initiate a ride in Hervey Bay myself, promoting the cause (via social media etc) amongst our friends, family and fellow riders. At the same time I launched a fundraiser asking for donations via my DGR profile site (https://gfolk.me/KlausZillner380563). Surprisingly I did manage to raise just over $400 earning me a DGR badge! For some reason Hervey Bay (HB) was not on the
