The Wheel Deal Rides Again!

The Wheel Deal will be back in the mix at the Victorian Tour de PIF this year, with Elaine Ross, Regional General Manager, The GPT Group, joining the group for a second year. “The Wheel Deal is a group of women in the construction and property industry and their supporters who train and ride together in Melbourne for the Tour de PIF event,” says Elaine. “The initial idea was to help make the event more accessible to women and encourage more novice and female riders to take part. I got involved when I started work at GPT and a colleague at the time and one of the founding members of The Wheel Deal – Rachelle Hume – encouraged me to enter for the event having noticed that I was a commuter cyclist.”

Elaine had a blast training and participating in last year’s event. “I’d never done anything like Tour de PIF before and the encouragement, training and camaraderie from the members of The Wheel Deal gave me the confidence for the event itself as well as getting to enjoy the company of some really awesome people.”

This year, The Wheel Deal are out to have fun and challenge themselves along the way. “Training is going great. We are so lucky to have three  amazing women – Manuela Marasco, Nadia Combe and Rachelle Hume – to encourage and push us each week. We meet at 8am on Saturday mornings at Studley Grounds and do laps of Studley Park Boulevard, as well as some of the steep side streets, followed by coffee and muffins of course! We also tackled the Don Road in Healesville a couple of weekends ago and will most likely do that again too. Participating in events outside the office – especially those that are a challenge and are for a great cause are amazing for team building.”

The Wheel Deal and The GPT Group can’t wait to get out on the track in beautiful Healesville in support of homeless youth. “I’m looking forward to finding the ride easier than last year, riding with my teammates along the way, and the really delicious lunch and feeling of accomplishment at the end! I am also really looking forward to seeing how much we all manage to raise.”

The GPT Group is onboard for a third year as the event’s National Sponsor, which has given Elaine even more incentive to get involved. Her colleagues are currently second on the leaderboard and they’ve already smashed their 10K goal. “The GPT Foundation aims to create the most value we can for the community by providing exciting and different ways for our employees to get involved and contribute,” says Elaine. “The decision was made to support this initiative for young people who need assistance, and to help ensure they are empowered to make positive choices and build stronger, more resilient communities. With 44,000 young people in Australia who are without safe and secure housing, the Property Industry Foundation shares a common goal with The GPT Foundation – to have a tangible and lasting impact on youth at risk and their futures.”