Distinguished Gentlemen’s Ride success

Organisers of the inaugural Distinguished Gentlemen’s Ride at Noosa on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland expected 12 riders, but ended up with almost 100, such is the success of this global phenomenon.

The Noosa ride on September 27, 2015, was one of 131 new rides added to the list of cities around the world participating in the DGR this year, bringing the number to 356 in 73 countries.

In four years, the DGR has raised millions for prostate cancer research and organisers hoped to raise $3m this year.

While only one of the smaller rides, the Noosa DGR, was a huge success.

Riders started an ended with a parade lap of the famous Hasting Street where tourists lined the footpath, snapping photos of the dapper riders and their bikes.

Although most of the bikes were Triumph Bonnevilles, there were also many Royal Enfields, a couple of old Indians and many small-capacity Japanese bikes, customised as cafe racers, bobbers, scramblers and street trackers.

MotorBikeWriter attended the Noosa ride after taking part in the Melbourne ride in 2013 and the Brisbane ride from Oliver’s Motorcycles last year.

We rode our 2010 “gentleman’s tourer” Triumph Bonneville T100 and debuted our 1980 Honda CX500 “rusty” street tracker custom with its notorious “NOS” bottle.

Distinguished Gentlemen's Ride — MBW on the Bonne and our hipster contributor Mitch Hamrey on the CX500

The Sunshine Coast DGR was organised by Cameron McGowan who says he was overwhelmed by the support and the good behaviour of riders.

“It was great to see the streets lined with tourists waving and taking photos,” he says.

He started the ride with a minute’s silence for a friend who died in the past year from prostate cancer.

In a clever piece of organisation, six cars were parked in Hastings St early in the morning and gradually removed to make way for the bikes as they arrived after their ride to Coolum and back.

Cameron is already planning next year’s ride, expecting a lot more riders to attend.

The Sunshine Coast DGR was sponsored by Underground Surf whose owner, Ondi, is a big bike fan. The surf shop hosted the assembly area at their Noosa Junction shop and the end party at their Hastings St location.