Organisers of the inaugural Bike Fest Oz! 2023 motorcycle festival to be held in and around the Gold Coast and northern NSW, including in and around Coolangatta, from June 7 to 11 are delighted to confirm that Doctor Charlie Teo has agreed to be the event’s Official Patron. The internationally respected, high-profile neurosurgeon is also a very enthusiastic and experienced motorcyclist and he will be riding during the five day event, including leading the opening Head to the Heads Ride from Chinderah to Brunswick Heads.

The 65-year-old Australian neurosurgeon and founder of the Charlie Teo Foundation is a very passionate person who is equally enthusiastic about cutting edge techniques to treat people with brain cancer as he is with riding state-of-the-art sports bikes.

“Charlie has been riding bikes since he was a young medical student and his passion is all about getting out on the road and leaving the pressures of his very cutting-edge medical career behind and simply enjoying being in the saddle and the freedom and excitement of being on a bike,” said Bike Fest Oz! promotor, Chris Beattie.

“Really, he is the ideal Patron for our inaugural event and apart from the Head to the Heads ride we hope to see Charlie taking part in other Festival activities,” he said. “While we’ve encountered ambivalence and even strident opposition in some sections of the events establishment on the Gold Coast, it’s great to see such a high-profile national figure support

our concept of an international-standard motorcycle festival that we have been promoting far and wide for the past year.”

Dr Teo launched the Charlie Teo Foundation five years ago to shake up the way brain cancer research is funded. Founded by a maverick, the foundation is all about radical thinking. It’s funding brilliant, original minds to go where no brain cancer researcher has gone before.

“Brain cancer is killing more of our kids than any other disease in Australia. Considering this, you’d think it gets the most funding. But sadly no, across developed first world countries including Australia, brain cancer is poorly funded compared to some other cancers. It has a significant socio-economic impact on our society as a killer of children and young people, yet governments aren’t pouring in the research funding. Brain cancer isn’t a common cancer, so put simply: it doesn’t win votes,” said Dr Charlie Teo.

“That’s why it was a no brainer to set up the Charlie Teo Foundation. We’re raising the money and funding the research so desperately needed,” he said.

As a neurosurgeon Charlie is world-renowned for performing high-risk surgeries on patients that have been deemed ‘inoperable’. His innovative and pioneering work involves minimally invasive keyhole surgery techniques that have seen patients from around the world given hope, with their lives extended, or in some cases their cancers even cured. The often very challenging and difficult work Charlie has pioneered has attracted both admirers and detractors, but overwhelmingly his patients and their families have praised the doctor and rider for his life-renewing efforts and groundbreaking work.

Dr Teo will also be speaking at a couple of Bike Fest Oz! events about the thrill of riding a bike, performing high-risk brain surgery when you literally hold someone’s life in your hands, and the ground-breaking work of his foundation.

“Charlie’s work is ultra-high pressure, and he’s said many times that riding a bike is like a form of therapy and an escape from the intensity of brain surgery,” said Chris. “We intend to make sure that he has plenty of therapy and enjoys his time riding in what is the best motorcycling country in Australia. And we want him to leave knowing that his attendance has also resulted in a better understanding of his work and also a funding boost via donations received during Bike Fest Oz!. So welcome aboard Dr Charlie Teo!”

In other developments …

THINGS WARMING UP FOR THE INAUGURAL BIKE FEST OZ!

In other developments, Bike Fest Oz! organisers have released their detailed Official Bike Fest Oz! Schedule of Events (www.bikefestoz.com.au), announced that a three-day motorcycle festival and celebration will be staged at the Gold Coast’s motorcycle hub of Lawrence Drive, Nerang, released details of the official involvement in Bike Fest Oz! of very active local Indigenous group, the Minjungbal People, and that there will be an Official BFO! Warm Up to be staged on Saturday, April 22 at the Kingscliff Beach Hotel, Kingscliff, just over the border from Coolangatta. The Warm Up will by headlined by extremely popular Byron Bay-based band, The Feramones, which boasts internationally acclaimed career musicians such as Rick Fenn (founding and very active current 10cc member), hugely accomplished founder of the London Guitar Institute, Alan Limbrick, keyboardist and musician to the stars Alan Park and also extremely talented and versatile lead singer and Kingscliff local, Col Germano.

“It’s been an extremely busy time reaching out to a lot of great people on the Gold Coast and around northern NSW, but to use a musical analogy, the tempo is really starting to build for the inaugural Bike Fest Oz!,” said promotor, bike journo, publisher and author, Chris Beattie.

Chris said having Charlie Teo as official festival patron is a major coup and he confirmed that the festival would be used to promote and solicit funds and support for the Charlie Teo Foundation, adding that he was also very encouraged by the support and enthusiasm he has experienced from the bike shops around Nerang, which are already spreading the word of the three-day Nerang Motorcycle Festival, which will run as part of Bike Fest Oz! 2023.

“Everyone has just been so supportive of what we’re trying to do and it’s a great example of how motorcycling people like to come together and enjoy their bikes, riding experiences and promote our great activity to the wider public,” he said.

The Official Bike Best Oz! Warm Up is another great development, explained Chris, giving locals and visitors a taste of what’s to come when BFO! kicks off from June 7 to 11.

“The Feramones are a fantastically talented band with a really big following around the border region and with muso’s who have played with some of the biggest names in rock,” he said. “They can play pretty much everything from ZZ Top to The Eagles, Zeppelin and Deep Purple and with Col Germano’s vocals you’d swear you were listening to the original artists,” he enthused. “So we’re confident that we’ll fill the Kingscliff Beach Hotel with bike riders from as far afield as Brisbane and down to Ballina when the Official Bike Fest Warm Up kicks off from 10am with a bike show and other fun stuff planned throughout the day on April 22.

“I’m also so pleased to have local Indigenous group, the Minjungbal People, on board as I’ve been an enthusiastic supporter of their youth diversion activities and programs and they have embraced our festival and will be playing an active part in showcasing their incredible culture and other aspects of their connection to the land and surrounding areas,” said Chris.

As part of the BFO! Warm Up, dancers and performers will showcase various aspects of their rich and ancient culture to the many bike-riding visitors that Chris hoped to attract to Kingscliff at the April event.