In September 2025, four Australian women will be completing a world first: riding a quad tandem bike across the country. The 4000km journey from Perth to Sydney, holds a single purpose, to raise $500,000 for Gotcha4Life, an organisation aiming to improve mental fitness and suicide prevention for Australians.
The Ride4Life four – Louise, Anna, Sonia and Rachel – are excited to tackle the challenge. “We don't know what to expect, which I think is the best part about it,” says Rachel. “We want to be part of getting suicide down to zero. That's the mission of Gotcha4Life and we're keen be part of that” explains Louise.
“This is the official first quad tandem bike in Australia. We got it from Canada, second hand… [and] unpacked it from the box last night and put it together” says Anna. For six weeks, the four women will be averaging from 80km – 180km a day on the bike.
Sonia and Louise became best friends after she sponsored Louise’s second ride. Sonia had the idea of riding across Australia with Louise and Rachel and Anna joined the Ride4Rescue in 2024 and were keen to join the Ride4Life journey. What started as an idea for two tandem bikes cycling beside each other morphed into this world-first. “Initially it was just going to be 2 tandems riding” says Rachel. “I came across this [quad on the internet] somewhere and I went, ‘four!’” recounts Louise. “She sent a photo of a quad, and we said ‘yeah, let's do that’” says Anna. Not realising quad tandems were few and far between, especially in Australia, it took the group six months to find one to suit their need. “It wasn't in the toy shop” jokes Sonia. “It was quite the journey. Over 200 emails liaising with people around the world that were offering us quotes of how to get it here. The original quote was $35k to bring it here. But through connections, buying it second hand and the shipping company – because it was charity they cut off half the price! So, I think it was approximately $14k in the end” explains Anna.
“Most people are not aware that every day, nine Australians take their lives. That’s seven men and two women every day. [Australia is] the highest rated [country for] suicide in the world” the women explain. Awareness is the heart and purpose of Gotcha4Life. Founded in 2017 by Gus Worland, their vision is for a ‘suicide free world, where no one worries alone’. How do they do this? They develop and deliver preventative programs that help build skills in building emotional muscles, social connectedness and encourage help seeking behaviours. These programs and behaviours are taught in schools, sports clubs, workplaces and communities across Australia.
“When you think about Australia, we actually have so much in this country. It's so rich and yet people are still feeling hopeless” says Anna. “The one thing that I really loved about Gotcha4Life is they target schools and getting kids early to talk about mental fitness.” In 2024, the organisation equipped 45,818 young people and the adults in their lives, 17,927 people visited their Mental Fitness Gym and they held 1,237 workshops that inspired life changing conversations (Gotcha4Life’s 2024 Impact Report). “Three of us [on the ride] are school teachers. I’ve chatted to kids that are on the brink – they feel that hopeless and they're 13. So, I'm a really big believer in what Gotcha4Life do” explains Anna.
Rachel, Anna and Louise are also all Avondale graduates. “I came to [Avondale] and graduated originally in 1991” says Louise. She graduated again in 2015 from her Bachelor’s degree and set off the next day to complete her first tandem ride. “It's crazy it was 2015 because that is the year my sister [Rachel] and I, graduated from our teaching degrees. But we didn't even know Louise at that point. So, it's a full circle. Now it's 10 years later, it’s our homecoming year, and we're on this mission together on this quad tandem. Avondale's been a special part of our journeys and made us the teachers we are” observes Anna.
For the women, their six-week journey is also deeply connected to their faith. “We have lost the ability to connect and be able to talk to one another about what is really on our hearts. And that's a big deal” says Sonia. “Jesus said, I've come that they have life and have it to the full. As Christians, we should be really concerned about that. It should be really on our hearts that we do change the world with the hope that we have.”
Avondale University will be following these women throughout the six week journey.
To help them reach their goal, you can
For updates of the ride follow @ride4life_aus and @avondale_uni on Instagram and Facebook.
