When Forster fathers Matt McQuillan, Shaun Davison, Dean Glover, Mathew Smith and Tony Lumtin decided to band together under the name 'Spin Brothers' and take part in the annual fundraiser, the Great Cycle Challenge, they thought it'd be nice to raise a couple thousand dollars for kids' cancer research.
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That was in August.
By the time the month-long cycling challenge rolled around at the start of October, they'd already raised $5,000 and needed to set their target a little higher.
"Not saying we will but it'd be nice to hit 10 grand," Mr McQuillan said at the time.
The five members also decided to double the amount of kilometres they'd each pledged to ride throughout the month, going from 250 to 500.
A month on and with the challenge now officially over, the group can't quite believe how much they managed to raise.
"The amount of money we raised I dead set cannot believe it," Mr McQuillan said.
"It feels fantastic."
In all, the group raised $17,120.35 for the Children's Medical Research Institute and rode a combined total of 2,748.5km.
"I honestly thought two or three grand would be good," Mr McQuillan said.
"$17,000 is unbelievable."
Mr McQuillan said the group had received an incredible amount of support from the local community, many of who had taken a great deal of joy in seeing them do so much exercise.
"We're all locals and know a few people," he said.
"I think they just wanted to see us ride 500km."
The group achieved their combined target of 2,500km through a combination of spin classes and getting out and about on their bikes, with some members showing an impressive level of dedication.
"Dean did quite a lot on the road," Mr McQuillan said.
"He's a tradie and starts early so he was getting up at 4am and knocking out 30 kilometres before work."
And the money they raised wasn't the only positive to come out of the group's efforts.
"I think everyone found another notch on their belts," Mr McQuillan laughed.
But all jokes aside, he said it was an amazing feeling to be involved in such a rewarding cause and to have so much community support behind them.
"There's been heaps of really nice messages and support from the locals," he said.
"A lot of people were saying it was a really nice cause."
With the success of this year behind them, Mr McQuillan said they were already looking forward to 2020.
"We've already decided to get more people next year," he said.
"We're going to aim for $20,000."
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