Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On Sunday, I joined hundreds of members of our community to take part in the first-ever Barnardos Beach Bolt, at Coogee Beach, to raise money for Barnardos Australia. Barnardos, of course, provide valuable foster care and adoption services and support abused and neglected children in our community. The weekend's event was raising awareness of child abuse and, of course, much-needed funds. On Sunday, close to $40,000 was raised by our community for Barnardos. Billed as the toughest mile in Sydney, the beach bolt saw competitors run downhill from Grant Reserve in Coogee onto the beach for a 500-metre, soft-sand beach run and then up a huge hill to the crest of Gordons Bay to the finish line. It was a great community event with competitors of all ages, some in fancy dress, and a mini bolt on the beach for kids.

I must give special praise to a number of people who raised a substantial amount of funds for Barnardos, including the Coogee Cougars, a group of mums who run and raise money for local community events. The Coogee Cougars raised $2,100, and six-year-old Sadie Juneja raised $1,700 all on her own for Barnardos. All in all, it was a wonderful event. I look forward to participating again next year. And special praise to my good mate Pete Wilson, who organised the event.