Team Kimberley Experiences Gears Up for the 2025 Hawaiian Ride for Youth
Posted: 17th January 2025
Posted in: News

Kimberley Experiences is extremely proud to be a Team Sponsor for the 2025 Hawaiian Ride for Youth. A cycling fundraising event spanning 700km from Albany to Perth. The goal of the ride is to raise over $2 million for Youth Focus, a charity that provides free mental health services to the youth of Western Australia. Throughout the ride, participants visit high schools across the Southwest of WA to engage with students and promote the importance and impacts of positive mental health.
From the 25th to the 29th of March this year, the Kimberley Experiences Team will be joining the Coastal peloton, which includes approximately 60 riders. Along with the Inland and Wheatbelt pelotons, the ride will bring together around 160 riders in total, supported by a dedicated crew.
Meet the Kimberley Experiences Team
Our team consists of six riders, each committed to the cause:
- Brad Miller (Captain and 8th-year rider)
- Jarrad Cousins (19th-year participant)
- Brett Stubberfield (8th-year rider)
- Mark Gratzer (5th-year rider)
- Thomas Riedel (1st-year rider)
- Chris Coote (1st-year rider)
The team is committed to training at least three days a week, with long rides through the Perth hills early on Saturday mornings. This dedication not only prepares them for the 700km challenge in March, but also strengthens the bond within the team, the peloton, and the wider Ride for Youth community. It’s this shared commitment and sense of purpose that makes this event so special.
To learn more about our team and support the ride, visit: Kimberley Experiences – Ride for Youth
Words from the Captain
I completed my first ride in 2018 and have been back every year since. My first ride was not only an extremely tough physical challenge riding from Geraldton to Perth in some unseasonably very hot weather, but a huge mental challenge as the final day was the 1-year anniversary of my sister passing away by suicide. Growing up, my family had a seemingly normal life but at a time when mental health was never really spoken about at school or home, my sister struggled through school and into her adult life with anxiety and depression. Having been on my first ride and seeing firsthand through school visits and presentations, the impact that services such as Youth Focus make is the reason I make the commitment to ride each year and raise valuable funds.
As a father of 3 kids in or near their teenage years, I can see the challenges that our youth face today though school, social media and now AI. Providing education and awareness about mental health, as well as re-enforcing that reaching out for help is ok and always available, is so important.
The ride commitment is to complete 6 months of training to prepare us for the ride. For me, this means 4am starts 3 days a week and riding 200+ km per week. For the first 10 weeks of training, I’ve completed approximately 2,500km of riding with another minimum of 3000km planned for the next 10 weeks before ride week.
To learn more about Brad’s inspiring story and his journey with Youth Focus, you can watch the video below and head to his Rider profile here: Ride for Youth – Brad Miller
Trigger warning: the following clip discusses suicide and mental health.
If you are experiencing an emotional crisis and require urgent support, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14.