Damian Charleson
I am 44 years old and married to my lovely wife Abena and have two beautiful children Courtney 12 and Mia 8.
In my spare time I like to spend time with my family and keep fit. During my work time I own a business in Newcastle where we sell Jayco Caravans and also Hunter Valley Manufactured Homes.
I have been lucky enough to be involved in Camp Quality as an event sponsor and in 2011 participated in the first Ride 4 Kids. The experience was very rewarding and a great challenge and I made a lot of new friends.
Wayne Lowe
I am the CEO of the PSI Group, a privately owned company, which is based in Charlestown, NSW that has operated for over 24 years. The Group operates three distinct businesses; Superannuation Administration for public offer super funds (such as NSF Super), Financial Planning and Self Managed Superannuation Funds. I lead a team of 40 people and I am responsible for setting the businesses’ strategic direction and ensuring that the PSI team delivers on that strategic direction.
I live in Warners Bay with my wife Janene and our three young daughters, Hayley (10), Krystal (8) and Angelica (5). My interests include boating, kayaking and jet skiing (on beautiful Lake Macquarie), horse racing (NJC member), golf (Newcastle Golf Club member), cricket and following the Newcastle Knights, the Newcastle Jets and the Collingwood Football Club.
Why am I doing the ride? This is an opportunity to raise money to help Camp Quality continue their quest to improve the quality of life for children and their families living with cancer through that very powerful medicine, laughter. And all I need to do to benefit people who may be less fortunate than our family is to do something that I enjoy doing - bike riding (for a long time) in the country with friends.
Craig Kimmorley
I have the luxury of working from home for Caltex Australia as a Business Manager in their mining division. The job is great, it is sometimes too quiet at home though so being involved with Camp Quality allows me to have plenty of noise and laughter around, not to mention when my wife Ali gets home there is plenty of noise!
I have previously completed two other challenges with CQ including Kokoda and Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa. We had an awesome time so I thought supporting CQ again by being involved in the “1000 km 4 Kids” would be another great experience.
Jason Lucas
I am a Sales Engineer by day, Crust Gourmet Pizza Bar pizza maker by night. I am married with 3 children Emily, Jemma and Isaac. My interests include sport and my family and friends. I am riding the “1000 Km 4 Kids” to challenge myself and help raise as much money as possible for the kids at Camp Quality.
Les Binkin
I’ve been married to Di for 19 years and we have three great children, Jarvis, Alex and Aria. As a family we love spending time on our boat around the Lake Macquarie. The kids all enjoy fishing which gives me an excuse to be able to spend a lot of time doing the thing I love also! On the work front I own and operate Marmong Point Marina so I get to spend my work days around the Lake also…….it’s a tough job but someone has to do it…..
Why am I doing the ride? Myself and three mates decided it would be a hard physical challenge, so if we are going to put ourselves through it, we should see someone else benefit from the fundraising and the kids of Camp Quality is the perfect choice! Really looking forward to the team spirit along the way.