Road trip in pop’s honour

A heartwarming tale is set to take place over a 3000km journey as a CQ man lives out his late family member’s dream.

AN HONOUR: Ryan Lorraway and Ben Bowes are taking on the Mystery Box Rally in August.

GRACEMERE’S Ben Bowes knows that when he sets off on the Mystery Box Rally his late pop Charles ‘Doc’ Rayner will be along for the ride.

Ben and crew member Ryan Lorraway will tackle the five-day, 3000km journey in the car Doc planned to drive around Australia following his cancer diagnosis in 2014.

Doc didn’t get to do that, losing his battle with the disease in 2017.

Ben sees the rally as a chance, in part, to realise his grandfather’s dream.

It was to be held in August but has now been pushed back to October due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The novel event, which this year will start and finish in Rockhampton, raises money for cancer research.

Participants must drive a car 25 years or older and raise a minimum of $3500 for the cause. Ben and Ryan are both train drivers and decided on “Train Wrecks” as their team name.

Ben said he had long been interested in doing a charity rally but never had the chance before.

“I’m probably the least mechanically-minded person you’ve ever met, as a lot of my friends have given me plenty of stick about,” he said.

“I stumbled across this one and saw it was starting and finishing in Rockhampton this year so I got the ball rolling and was lucky enough to get picked.”

Ben told his grandmother Joy McKenna about the plan and that he was hunting for a vehicle and she reminded him that Doc’s Pintara was sitting idle in the shed.

“I’d forgotten all about it, to be honest,” he said.

“We went over and had a look and kicked it in the guts and it wasn’t in as bad a shape as we expected.

“Pop had done a lot of travelling but he’d never been all around Australia in the one trip.

“When he first got diagnosed that was his plan – do up the car and travel around Australia.

“In a way we’re fulfilling that dream for him and the rally raises money for the Cancer Council so it all fits together. Pop spent a lot of his life in the outback and we did some road trips together.

“I’ll be reminiscing about those days and I think there will be a few tears shed along the way, especially if it heads out west to some of his favourite places.”

Ben said he and Ryan were grateful for the donations and sponsorships they had received in what were tough times.