A marathon of a bike ride, stretching to a 2500-kilometre round trip, recently ended where it began at St Andrew’s Cathedral in Sydney.

The Grace To The World ride was undertaken to increase awareness of, and encourage support for, global issues of importance to Christians such as extreme poverty, abuse and exploitation, which are still quite prevalent in many parts of the world.

The bike tour was supported by local parishes all along the route, which twisted inland through the New England region and crossed the border past Glenn Innes, before circling through Brisbane and taking the coastal roads back towards Sydney, arriving on April 24.

The riders included Anglican Aid Sydney’s CEO the Rev David Mansfield, the Rev Ross Anderson from George Whitefield College in South Africa, South Turramurra’s rector the Rev Tom Henderson-Brooks, retiree Mr Ron Balderston and recreational cyclist Mr David Langley.

Mr Henderson-Brooks tag-teamed with Mr Anderson, who had to return home to South Africa halfway through the ride, and did so just in time to celebrate his 50th birthday.

“It has been hard work but God has blessed us with great weather with hardly a drop of rain in my five days I was with the team,” Mr Henderson-Brooks says.

“My only problem on the trip was when I broke two wheel spokes…one team member joked that I could not be a ‘spokesperson!’

“The Dalby bike shop owner not only opened the shop on a Sunday to fix my wheel so we could get back on the road, he refused to charge me. That was a great contribution to the trip.”

The tour saw the team swap cycling outfits for bibles and pulpits on a regular basis as they preached at many of the churches that hosted them.

Having a support crew from Austinmer and Engadine parishes following along also meant that, on the odd occasion where crosswinds and shoulderless roads conspired to make the ride unsafe, the team was able to hunker down on their interstate ride.