Agroup of local female veterans aged between 50 and 65 years old are gearing up to ride over 500km in France to honour a prominent female figure in the French Resistance during World War II.
Leanne, Nicky, Kym, Marcia, Karmen, Jodie and Liz Wheeler will travel to the Auvergne region in France in May 2025 to recreate the route Nancy Wake took to send an urgent message during the war about the resupply of ammunition and weapons from England.
While Ms Wake took only 72 hours to complete the 520km journey, Nancy Wake Memorial Ride participants will take a minimum of two weeks with stops to local schools and veteran groups to educate and restabilise links on the famous World War II heroine.
Twisted Threads member Pam Summers knitted a white mouse as a mascot for the riders to take with them on their journey because that was the name the Gestapo (the official secret police of Nazi Germany) gave Ms Wake for her ability to repeatedly escape capture.
Ms Wheeler said the group all joined the service in the 1980s which was a time where women were allowed to go into combat related roles which garnered some hesitation and resistance from their male counterparts.
“This was a really big headset change, a really big cultural change so it meant that women were allowed to go on ships as opposed to being on the shore,” she said.
“We were there copping this cultural change and it was difficult.
“We were trained in weapons so that capacity to be armed, actually going into combat roles was a little bit later but this was opening the doors going into combat related roles where previously women were not trained in using arms and were very restricted in the sorts of jobs they did.
“It was a difficult time, there were a lot of blokes who just did not want us there at all.
“You had to suppress your feminine side all the time, you had to show that you could do the job better than a bloke to excuse why you were there.
“We faced all that together and there’s a common thread when we get together about that which I guess gave rise to why we call ourselves the Fanny Fridays.”
The Fanny Fridays is a Facebook group made up of female veterans encompassing the Limestone Coast and includes the Nancy Wake Memorial Ride members.
The group is named after Sister Fanny “Topsy” Tyson who died while serving in World War I.
The tongue in cheek name also takes ownership of the disparaging and colloquial descriptions many female members have been subjected to during their time in the service.
Ms Wheeler who met Ms Wake on several occasions said riders wanted to tell her story to honour the brave and courageous individual she was.
“We would just really like to get her story out there to celebrate this just amazingly brave woman,” she said.
“Nancy Wake was described as being irrepressibly irreverent and I guess that’s where we’re coming from.
“We sort of link in with Nancy in that she always had to maintain her femininity but we had to suppress ours.
“Nancy did this incredible bike ride over 500km on this old bone rattler of a bike going through German checkpoints, successfully got the message out, she made it to Chateauroux and returned back to Montlucon.”
Ms Wheeler said the Nancy Wake Memorial Ride will include seven legs starting at Saint Santin and finishing at Montlucon where Ms Wake’s ashes are scattered.
“That first leg of Saint Santin to Montlucon we’re estimating is going to take us about three days because that is seriously mountainous country,” she said.
“There’s going to be tears but you know what, we know that we’ll do it, that’s not even part of the equation.
“If we have to walk up the hills, if we have to drag each other up the hills, that’s what we will do, we will do it.
“Some of these women had not riden a bike prior to this training for 30-40 years easily.”
Ms Wheeler said local riders train every Sunday in preparation and have multiple sessions each week with Limestone Coast exercise physiologist Hayley Owens.
“She’s working on our overall fitness and things but knowing this is the challenge that we want to do and helping us get ready with regards to our legs and our endurance,” she said.
“We could not have lucked in with a more enthusiastic supporter, she is just brilliant.
“If people see us, 1.5 metres distance please and give us a wave not a toot, we’re a little bit wobbly.
“The Military Brotherhood are a motorbike group and they have been so wonderfully supportive of us as blokes which is a really nice role reversal and they provide us with safety support.
“That has been a really welcome relationship and they are so keen to support us on this venture to make sure we stay safe primarily while we’re out on the rides.
“We are hoping they (Invictus Games Foundation) will commit to us next year to give us that solid 12 months of really intensive and supported training specifically for cycling of this nature.
“The other supportive mob is Military and Emergency Services Health Australia (MESHA) who will work with us as much as they are interested in doing a research project on us because we are an interesting cohort of women over 50 years of age who served at the same time.”
MESHA will explore what challenges the riders are facing, their capacity for resilience in regards to their age group of women and what they have taken from their time in the service.
“Whilst we’re doing the physical ride over there MESHA we are hoping will be putting together a virtual ride … and all of that money will go to MESHA supporting CFS, St Johns, SA Ambulance volunteers, veteran community etc. and stay in South Australia,” Ms Wheeler said.
Contact Ms Wheeler at liz@plymptonvc.org.au to sponsor or donate to the ride.
