Out of all the cycling kit you have at home, how much do you regularly wear? Half of it? A quarter?
Mick Dunne, a keen road cyclist and member of Parklife Cycling Club in Sydney, decided to find a better use for his spare jerseys and knicks.
Dunne, an engineer by training, regularly travels overseas to work with Mercy Ships, which deploys charity hospital ships to Africa.
On two separate occasions in 2023 and 2026, Dunne collected kit from his fellow club members, packed them in his checked luggage, and took them to the West African nation of Sierra Leone, donating them to locals in the capital city, Freetown.
The green jersey of Parklife Cycling Club can now be seen in Sierra Leone.
In total, Parklife Cycling Club members gave away around 44 kilograms of cycling clothing, made up mostly of jerseys – as well as shorts, socks, gloves, and four pairs of shoes.
“It's a small contribution, really,” Dunne said. “We've got such an excess, you know … we've all got kit we don’t wear.
“Better the kit be used by someone in Africa than sitting in someone's drawer in Australia.”
Dunne first got the idea when he read an online article about Sierra Leone’s Lunsar Cycling Team. He made contact with the team, who helped to distribute the clothes to riders across the country.
“It's not just going to the Lunsar Cycling Team,” Dunne said. “It's gone to various other ones [teams and clubs] because there's so much of it. You think about what a jersey weighs: when you fill a bag with that 20, 21 kilos of kit, there's a lot of jerseys in there.”
Some 44kg of clothing was donated by the club.
This year, Dunne also donated his personal bicycle and smart trainer – once kept on the ship for his occasional use, now finding a new life on land with Sierra Leonean cyclists.
Roxanne Hargreaves, a representative of Lunsar Cycling Team (LCT), said the donations were making an impact on cyclists around the nation.
“It’s so lovely to have a connection with Parklife CC. Their generous donation of kit was great – they sent us high-quality male and female bibs and jerseys, which we distributed across several clubs across Sierra Leone, not just Lunsar Cycling Team,” said Hargreaves.
“We also received some items and an incredible bike from Mick, which one of LCT’s under-23 males, Ibrahim, is riding and racing with. Mick also gave us his Wahoo trainer, which Freetown club Flames are using – their first ever smart trainer experience!"
On his latest trip, Parklife's Mick Dunne also donated his smart trainer and bicycle.
From his travels across the continent, joining bunch rides and amateur events from Cameroon to Madagascar, Dunne said the love of cycling is universal.
“What I saw in Africa, you see the passion. Everywhere I went in Africa, there would be cyclists who’ve got that same passion you’ve got as a cyclist, who want to get out and ride their bike.”
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Photos: supplied