Sunshine Ride, March 18-19, aids Albury Wodonga Regional Cancer Centre

The Murray River Police District team will join their Wodonga counterparts on the Sunshine Ride, where participants rotate turns on exercise bikes for the duration.

Chief Inspector Scott Russell said they would honour Detective Senior Constable Marg Saunders, who died in 2019, through the Albury Wodonga Regional Cancer Centre fundraiser.

"Marg had touched many lives here in Albury," he said.

"She trained me here back in 1988.

"It came as a shock and a great sadness when she passed away.

"She supported a lot of police coming through and made sure they were guided in the right direction."

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The Sunshine Ride began last year when gym friends Steve Ballard and Liam Forrest came up with the idea at Albury's Adrenaline Boxing and Conditioning.

"We were hoping to raise a thousand bucks, we ended up raising about $36,500," Mr Ballard said.

This year other gyms, sporting clubs, community groups and businesses have been encouraged to join the six teams from Adrenaline, the two police squads and two sponsor bikes, which have been booked out.

"We've already gone past last year's effort, just under $40,000," Mr Ballard said, noting a Wagga ride had also been planned.

His 2021 experience reinforced a 24-hour stationary bike ride "gets pretty long".

"We just ad lib the night, we have a few games through the night, so we have a lot of fun with it," he said.

The event links in with the annual Sunshine Walk and supports the same cause.

"We're hoping to grow it as big as the walk so it's a great advantage for the Albury Wodonga Regional Cancer Centre," Mr Ballard said.

Sergeant Branko Ivic, of Wodonga, said officers were keen to raise money to help Border cancer patients.

"When you look at the cost of travelling and the time involved to Sydney, to Melbourne to get specialist treatment, a facility like that in Albury-Wodonga is just gold, you can't put a price on that," he said.

There are no rules about how fast people pedal, but the police representatives agreed some crossborder competition could arise between the forces.

"There'll be some friendly rivalry, some banter, some carry-on," Sergeant Ivic said.

"This is going to be a bit of a challenge ... you don't need a sense of balance or a sense of direction so any detective should be all over it."

The Sunshine Ride starts at 6pm Friday and continues until 6pm Saturday.

For more details, to register or donate, go to sunshineride.org.au.

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