Footy legend braves wild weather for Alzheimers

Battling hailstorms, wild winds and heavy downpours, football legend Barry Cable won’t give up on his 1000km ride through Albany for Alzheimers research.

The 72 year-old began his Ride for Memories in support of the McCusker Alzheimer’s Research Foundation in Esperance last Saturday.

“It is all worth it because we are doing it for Alzheimer’s so we are not really worried about the weather,” Mr Cable said.

“It gets hard so you say what am I doing out here and you just keep going to the end.”

Mr Cable has completed many long-distance rides for charity but this is the first ride he will tackle with a companion, former MasterChef Australia contestant Josh Catalano.

“The other young fella I have riding with me, Josh Catalano, his grandmother had Alzheimer’s and passed away,” he said.

“We know that there’s a lot of people out there that are involved with Alzheimer’s through the families.

“The hardest thing is although you might have Alzheimer’s it’s all the people around you, the family friends and all of that, it’s just very debilitating for everybody.”

Mr Cable travelled through the Great Southern towns of Hopetoun and Jerramungup before venturing to Tambellup, Narrogin, York and on to Perth.

He also stopped in at the North Albany Football Club on Tuesday.

The triple Sandover medallist hopes he can raise awareness about finding a cure.

“The most important thing is to be able to get the message out there to the people and let them know what we are actually doing the ride for,” Mr Cable said.

I can see what it does to them and then I see what it does to the families and their friends.

“And it’s not a nice thing so if we can get a cure for it it’d be fantastic.”

There are 353,800 Australians living with dementia and Alzheimer’s.

For more information on the ride, visit everydayhero.com.au/event/ride-for-memories.