BY ALESHA CAPONE
DARREN Farquhar describes himself as an ordinary bloke, but he and friend Darren Maxwell recently achieved something extraordinary.
The men went on a charity bicycle ride from Perth to Hoppers Crossing across 18 days, to raise funds for a children’s home in Kenya.
After cycling thousands of kilometres, they arrived back at the Destiny Centre Christian Church in Hoppers Crossing, where they are both parishioners, on 22 September.
“We’re two ordinary blokes off the street,” Mr Farquhar, of Seabrook, said.
“We are ordinary people who set out to achieve something to change people’s lives.”
His wife Helen and Mr Maxwell’s wife Kirsten accompanied the pair on the journey, travelling in a van as support crew.
Mrs Maxwell filmed their journey and is making a 43-minute documentary titled ‘Double Pedal’ about the trip.
The men travelled almost 4000 kilometres and raised around $23,000 to create an eco-farm at One Heart Kenya, a home for disadvantaged young people.
“Every day we did a blog. Every day we rode for a particular child from One Heart and we would write about them,” Mrs Farquhar said.
“For me it was certainly one of the motivating factors, when the going got tough I thought, ‘I’m doing it for the kids’,” her husband said.
Some days they began cycling and 6am and were still riding at 8pm.
Mr Maxwell even kept going after a bad tumble from his bicycle, which resulted in some “pretty bad grazing” and a cracked helmet.
Bill Gibbins, a past employer and friend of Mr Farquhar, sponsored both men at $1.50 per kilometre- on the condition they finished the trip.
The men are still accepting donations for their efforts at www.oneheartchallenge.org
