Ride for a good cause

Capes mountain bikers will take to the tracks on Saturday for the annual Chase the Thylacine ride in support of Mental Health Week.

This year marks Mental Health Week’s 50th year promoting mental health awareness and helping reduce the stigma which is commonly associated with mental health conditions.

To mark the occasion, cyclists will be travelling more than 100km a day over two days, riding from Busselton to Nannup and back.

Ride founder Andrew Wright said the focus of the ride was to enable every participant to achieve their goal.

He said he started the ride with his brother in 2010 as a way to explore the unique plant, animal and endangered or believed to be extinct species found in the Whicher Range in spring.

“As time moved on it became something we coincided with Mental Health Week,” he said.

“To get people to the other end of the trail is a little like getting people through life in some ways — we’re all doing it together.”

The event, which originally took riders from the Secret Whicher Trails near Busselton to Nannup and back again, now begins at the Busselton Jetty and includes an overnight stop, returning the following day.

Wright said while the ride had attracted about 60 riders this year, he tried to keep the event low-key.