Port Douglas to Melbourne car rally raises more than $2m for charity
Shire events
One of Australia’s most iconic Outback car events, the Shitbox Rally, left Port Douglas on Saturday morning bound for Melbourne.
The charity car run, which follows different circuits around the country, has made more than $67m for cancer research since it was started 16 years ago by founder and chief executive James Freeman after he lost both parents to cancer in the same year.
“I lost mum and dad within 12 months of each other when I was 31, so it was a pretty horrible thing to happen and we were a close family,” Mr Freeman said on Saturday before the rally started.
“I wanted to do something that really honoured them.
“That was 44 rallies ago (and) I am still enjoying it,” Mr Freeman said.
“The people are amazing, they’re really wonderful, the places that you go, the sights and the scenery, the driving, it’s a pretty unique thing to do.”
The rally is the largest funder of the Cancer Council in Australia, with this one raising close to $2.4m, he said.
“100 per cent of that goes to the Cancer Council.
“We need to do more research.
“The world over we are not doing enough.”
The cars competing in the rally must all be worth less than $1500, and each team has to raise more than $5000 in order to take part.