Ordinary people EXTRAordinary deeds.

Bicycle NSW Volunteers celebrated 2009 in style at the annual Volunteer Gala Awards dinner at stunning City Tattersalls Club, Sydney on Saturday 7 November.

The evening was held to celebrate and recognise the hard work of the hundreds of Volunteers who give their time each year to Bicycle NSW.

We were honoured to have Barb Matchett and Margaret Thorn, sisters of the late Warwick Howse to present the Warwick Howse Spring Cycle Male Volunteer of the Year Award and it showed how volunteering doesn’t just touch those who volunteer, but everyone connected with them.

Congratulations to our Awards winners:

* Max Wiechman Volunteer of the Year - Rob Kemp

* Female Office Volunteer – Maureen Duffy

* Male Office Volunteer – John Davis

* Advocacy Volunteer – Werner Steyer

* Ride to School Volunteer – Jason Green, Hawkesbury High School

* Ride to Work Volunteer – Peter Shalless

* Ride Leader Volunteer – Bike North

* Gearing for the Future Award - AB Mauri Foods, Camellia

* Honourable Mention Volunteers – Greg Krix, Richard Birdsey & Lina Caccamo

* Gear Up Girl Challenge Female Volunteer – Christina Harlamb

* Gear Up Girl Challenge Male Volunteer – David Anderberg

* City of Sydney Spring Cycle Female Volunteer – Kirsten Leslie

* City of Sydney Spring Cycle Male Volunteer – John Flood

Rob Kemp was the very worthy winner of the Max Wiechman Volunteer of the Year Award. Rob’s tireless work spent not just on Bicycle NSW run programs, but numerous other volunteer projects stood out as an ideal winner of the award.

For Bicycle NSW Rob continues to be a dedicated and dependable volunteer, going above and beyond the call of duty. At the 2009 Spring Cycle Rob filled not one role, not two roles, but made a fantastic contribution by filling 3 volunteer roles as Ride Crew Team Leader, Sector 3A Team Leader and the Last Rider for Ride Blacktown. Ride Blacktown was kind of a ‘Rob Kemp’ event!

Rob also does a great job volunteering as a Team Leader for the Gear up Girl Challenges and he has also given up his free time to help Bicycle NSW at several Expos and Fairs, including the Blacktown Sustainability Fair and the Sports Expo at Blacktown Olympic Park.

Outside of Bicycle NSW, Rob gives a lot of time to other volunteer projects including, Cam West Bicycle User Group, the Riverstone Festival, Sustainable House Day, organising the Bairnsdale to Albury bike ride, as well as spending a lot of time putting detailed cycling routes onto the website Bikely.com.

Congratulations to Rob for taking out the 2009 Max Wiechman Volunteer of the Year Award.

Aside from awards presentations, volunteers were given the opportunity to let their hair down and enjoy the night dedicated to them. The venue was a buzz and gave the volunteers a chance to catch up with old friends and meet new ones. Thanks to all volunteers who came along and made the night a fantastic success.

Bicycle NSW Female Office Volunteer of the Year

Winner: Maureen Duffy

Maureen is one of the key people making sure that the Rider Kits are assembled and posted out to almost 10,000 people for the Spring Cycle. Maureen has been part of the team of regular office volunteers for years and is always happy to help out wherever she can with her smiling face and good nature and never seems to be phased by the mountain of envelopes waiting to be stuffed!

Bicycle NSW Male Office Volunteer of the Year

Winner: John Davis

John has been volunteering in the Bicycle NSW office for 1 – 2 days a week over the past year, working this in alongside his studies in Sports Management. He has played a key role in coordinating volunteer and operations administration for events as well as mail outs, Membership, and helping with the Ride2School and Ride To Work programs.

John has also volunteered as a Team Leader for both the Spring Cycle and Gear up Girl and outside of Bicycle NSW volunteers for numerous causes including the Red Cross Appeal and his local Fire Fighting brigade.

Bicycle NSW Advocacy Volunteer of the Year

Winner: Werner Steyer

Werner started volunteering back in the late 60s through the Scouting Association and this was rekindled when he joined the Illawarra Bicycle Users Group in 2003.

For Bicycle NSW, Werner has been travelling from Illawarra to the Bicycle NSW office 1 day a week for the last 12 months helping to forge the link between BUGS and BNSW and making communities safer place to ride.

Gearing for the Future Award

Winner: AB Mauri Foods, Camellia

For supporting environmentally sustainable transport by bicycle on 30 September 2009

AB Mauri generously hosted Sydney’s major Earth Ride event on 30 September 2009.

Chris King, General Manager Operations and Chair of the Camellia Business Group (CBG), is himself a keen cyclist, and has introduced a bike subsidy program that is gaining support of others along the peninsula. Employees at AB Mauri receive financial subsidies of up to $1,000 for the cost of purchasing a bicycle through a $10 company contribution for every day they cycle to work.

Bicycle NSW Ride to Work Volunteer of the Year

Winner: Peter Shalless

Peter has been a great help on National Ride to Work Day, un-phased by the early start and assisting on the Bicycle NSW stand. He has been a long-standing Volunteer for Bicycle NSW, helping out with Big Rides and recent Gear up Girl Challenges.

Bicycle NSW Ride Leader Volunteer of the Year

Winner: Bike North

Bike North have been a key force behind running the Ride Leader Training courses in Sydney, by providing assessors and Volunteers for the courses and by helping to coordinate the courses on the day.

Bicycle NSW Ride2School Volunteer of the Year

Winner: Jason Green

Jason, a teacher at Hawkesbury High School has been an avid supporter of Ride2School since March 2008. He goes above and beyond his role to promote cycling both to his students and colleagues. He has created strong cycling culture at the school which has motivated students to choose cycling as a healthy, sustainable activity not just for the school journey but in all areas of their lives. His efforts have been highlighted recently with the large number of teachers and students participating in the NRMA 500 km Gold Medal Challenge.

Honourable Mention presentations

Winner: Lina Caccamo

With just one week to go until this year’s Spring Cycle, Lina very graciously stepped into a Team Leader role when the previous Team Leader was suddenly unable to make it. Lina did a great job of leading her team at Sector 1F, on the very busy Ride North Sydney. Thank you Lina!

Winner: Richard Birdsey

Even in his role as Vice President of the Bicycle NSW Board, Richard is always willing to help out in the operational side of events, usually involved with the route coordination. He puts a huge amount into his role as Team Leader and is fantastic at communicating with the Event Staff and helping to improve the events year after year.

Winner: Greg Krix

Greg, also a member of the Bicycle NSW Board, is always a fantastic help coordinating the Ride Crew for the events. With his wife Glynne, they manage a huge team of Ride Crew Volunteers on event days and also put in a lot of work prior to the events to make sure that their team is properly equipped to do their job – and an important job at that!

Gear Up Girl Challenge Female Volunteer of the Year

Winner: Christina Harlamb

Christina has been involved with Bicycle NSW as a Volunteer for the past few years – working as a Team Leader for both the Spring Cycle (where she manages the incredibly busy ‘On the day’ entries) and for Gear up Girl, where she expertly manages the ‘on the day’ entries and registrations. Christina is a fantastic leader and communicator and is a great personality to have on site.

Gear Up Girl Challenge Male Volunteer of the Year

Winner: David Anderberg

Debbie, as he is affectionately known, has been a Bicycle NSW for many years, helping out on maybe 15 Spring Cycles! In 2009 he volunteered for the Gear up Girl Challenges in both Sydney and the brand new event in Canberra, where he gave up his free time to travel down to Canberra, taking on a key role of designing, setting up and packing down the Start/Finish site.

Spring Cycle Female Volunteer of the Year

Winner: Kirsten Leslie

Kirsten was the Team Leader for Sector 1A – the first, and incredibly busy, sector of Ride North Sydney which includes riding over the Harbour Bridge. Detailed and thorough are two words which are particularly apt for describing Kirsten’s approach to her volunteer role and a large part of her success on the day was due to the amount of time she put in prior to the event in pre-planning and communicating with her team of volunteers as well as event staff.

Warwick Howse Spring Cycle Male Volunteer of the Year

Winner: John Flood

John has been a Spring Cycle volunteer for the past 3 years once again was a fantastic help at this year’s event. He has a great attitude to volunteering – jumping in to help out whenever needed and expecting nothing in return. This year, not only did John do an amazing job on the event day (along with Heather Page) battling with the winds and the leaflets at the Bicycle NSW information tent, but he also joined the team setting up the site on the days preceding the event, using a great deal of muscle power!

The Max Wiechman Volunteer of the Year

Winner: Rob Kemp

For Bicycle NSW Rob continues to be a dedicated and dependable volunteer, going above and beyond the call of duty. At the 2009 Spring Cycle Rob filled not one role, not two roles, but made a fantastic contribution by filling 3 volunteer roles as Ride Crew Team Leader, Sector 3A Team Leader and the Last Rider for Ride Blacktown. Ride Blacktown was kind of a ‘Rob Kemp’ event!

Rob also does a great job volunteering as a Team Leader for the Gear up Girl Challenges and he has also given up his free time to help Bicycle NSW at several Expos and Fairs, including the Blacktown Sustainability Fair and the Sports Expo at Blacktown Olympic Park.

Outside of Bicycle NSW, Rob gives a lot of time to other volunteer projects including, Cam West Bicycle User Group, the Riverstone Festival, Sustainable House Day, organising the Bairnsdale to Albury bike ride, as well as spending a lot of time putting detailed cycling routes onto the website Bikely.com.

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