2019 Wall to Wall Ride
10th Anniversary Baton run
Nine years ago, Georg Berk and myself headed off on an odessy that was very special. We rode our motorcycles to Canberra in the rain to the Police Memorial in Canberra. There we met with now retired New South Wales Superintendent Stan Single – a master craftsman who had fashioned commemorative batons made out of Australian hardwoods and a special Huon pine baton for Tasmania.
Each baton was hollowed out and contained a parchment with the names of every police officer killed on duty in the respective jurisdiction.
Georg and I carried the batons on our motorcycles and delivered a baton to each Commissioner in every State and Territory. It was a momentous ride around our country in 18 days. Every kilometre, we thought of the men and women who sacrificed their lives for our community and our hardships paled by comparison to them, and the loved ones left to mourn.
I made a commitment to again conduct a baton run on the 10th anniversary of the Wall2Wall ride. Now retired and having since travelled the world on my trusty BMW1200GSA. I thought it appropriate to see if this old man, and the well used BMW with will over 270,000 hard kilometres travelled over every continent (except Antarctica) could do it again.
This time, other intrepid riders who have put a great deal into the wall2wall event have decided to join us. From Victoria, Detective Senior Sergeant John Laird, current President of the Police Association Victoria, Treasurer of the Police Federation of Australia and chair of the National Wall2Wall committee is joining us on his 650 V Strom. Leading Senior Constable Mark Vipond, who is one the Victorian Wall2Wall committee is corralling us on his BMW K1600 monster and two New South Wales Ex members Detective Superintendent Luke Moore and Senior Sergeant Stephen Hudson, both recently retired will join us in Canberra and Sydney.