Alanagh Godderidge
Founder / CEO of Motion by the Ocean Inc.
Alanagh Godderidge is the founder and CEO of Motion by the Ocean Inc. and a pioneer of the Cycling Without Age movement in Western Australia.
The light-bulb moment for her came in July 2017, after watching a Youtube video of a Scottish medical student taking two ladies on a trishaw ride. Having lived in Perth’s beautiful northern coastal suburbs for more than 30 years, it became obvious to her that this was a service her community could embrace.
After discovering the worldwide Cycling Without Age movement and collaborating with local supporter Alicia Gangemi, Alanagh then gathered support from businesses, local government, her Federal Member of Parliament, and the local community to purchase a purpose-built trishaw from Copenhagen.
Cycling Without Age Sorrento was born!
The initial plan was simply to offer free daily rides to senior and less mobile communities along the shared path at West Coast Drive, from Sorrento to Trigg. Such was the fantastic response from the local community, those involved realised they could offer so much more and started looking at other ways people could be assisted.
In 2019, in collaboration with a handful of other like-minded individuals, the charity Cycling Without Age Australia was established to provide assistance setting up similar trishaw programs for other Australian communities.
Once the charity was established, Alanagh stepped away from the national Cycling Without Age organisation and focused her attention on Cycling Without Age Sorrento. This allowed her to expand its services to better meet the demands of her of her own community.
The trigger to expand initiative came during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. During the lockdown Alanagh and her team had to suspend their trishaw rides.
No longer able to take our senior and less mobile community members out for a healthy dose of fresh air and good company, Alanagh realised isolation and insecurity would be a major concern. If people could not get out and about, how would they maintain their mental well-being? How would they get the food, supplies and support they needed?
Diversification was required, and quickly.
From moving people on trishaws, Alanagh collaborated with the country’s largest food recovery agencies, forming the Moving Food program. This enabled delivery of food hampers to a community suffering from food insecurity.
During 2020 the initiative experienced first-hand how much the community benefits from a little kindness and consideration.
The expansion led to the formation of Motion by the Ocean Inc., the charity you see today. While trishaw rides remain the primary service, Motion by the Ocean Inc. complements this with the food hamper delivery service.
Motion by the Ocean Inc. is all about the northern suburbs coastal community coming together as a collective to help and support each other. While Cycling Without Age is a global movement, Motion by the Ocean Inc. focusses on better meeting the needs of its community. Trishaw rides are simply part of the journey.
Motion by the Ocean Inc. will continue to grow and reach even more people. In 2021 a second Trishaw was procured, allowing rides to operate from Mullaloo foreshore. A third Trishaw is due to arrive in late 2023. This will enable more rides for more people along the Sorrento foreshore.
At July, 2022 Motion By The Ocean Inc. has carried more than 7900 trishaw passengers, cycling more than 48,000 passenger km’s, the same distance as Perth to Sydney — 11 times!
The Moving Food program has been a stand-out too, delivering 39,000 meals to seniors and vulnerable people.
For Motion By The Ocean and its small army of volunteers, it has been a satisfying and meaningful journey in which countless new friendships have been formed along the way too!
