Six community groups and individuals were on the receiving end of funds raised at the sixth President’s lunch of the Forbes Rugby Club.

Chris Sweeney, organiser of the lunch, said it was great to be able to support the community. “The lunch is not all about rugby. It is great for over 800 people to come together and have fun, but it is just as wonderful to be able to support our community.”

Over the past six years we have been able to give $100,000 back to the community, while the club boosted its funds by the same amount. Chris said anyone wanting to attend next year’s lunch should keep 17th March 2018 open.

This year the beneficiaries were the Forbes Badminton Club, Forbes Running and Triathlon Club, Forbes Toy Library, Forbes Public School Special Unit and the Garland family all receiving $1,800. The Forbes Town and District Band received $300 for performing at the lunch. The Forbes Public School assisted on the day with rubbish collection.

If you ever read through the comments sections of online news articles about government debt, you’ll find numerous people complaining about how it is going to rob our children of lifestyle in the future and that a simple solution is to stop handing out the dole to those bludgers who are too ‘lazy’ to work.

These are likely the same people who will be happy to go on the ‘dole’ when they’re older. The definition of someone on the dole is a person who is unemployed and reliant on welfare to make ends meet, which de- scribes most Australian retirees! Somehow, I don’t think they would see it that way, nor do I… but how will you feel when you get to 67 if you can’t afford to pay the bills without receiving welfare payments? This is the reality most Australians face in retirement.

It’s time we recognise the simple facts that we are living longer and longer and that it’s not the government’s job to pay for any of us to be retired. In a first world country like Australia we will continue to pay an age pension to ensure people can survive, but if you’re like most people, I don’t believe you want to wake up at retirement and discover you’ve worked your entire adult life to then spend the next 30-40 years just ‘surviving’.

At Wealth Train, we don’t want to see people surviving in retirement, we want to see them thriving! Get on board and learn how.

Cheers, Daniel

Close to 300 athletes competed in the six races of the new look Forbes Triathlon last weekend, which now forms part of the NSW Tri Series.

In the longest of the six contested dis- tances of a 1.9km swim, 90km bike ride and 21.1km run, Nick North from Bathurst won in a time of 4.00.48 with Rhys Clarke (4.06.46) from Werombi second and Leigh Chapman (4.12.00) of Penrith third. Nick said he was grateful to have a race in his own backyard.

In the Women’s Ultimate distance it was Jessica Richards of Orange that took the win in a time of 4.37.43 ahead of Alex Larkman (4.47.41) of Bondi and Shannon Chapman (4.52.35) of Mudgee in third place.

Jessica said the course was deceptively tough with winds increasing in the afternoon and the flat topography of the bike leg meant there was no rest on downhills as there was on other courses.

Saturday’s event was made possible by droves of volunteers to raise funds for local community groups and charities. “The Forbes triathlon festival is only made possible by the hard work of our fantastic volunteers,” said Jody McClaren the volunteer manager at Elite Energy.

The Outlaw Team Spitwater from Forbes made its public debut in the Australian V8 Superboats in front of more than 10,000 fans in regional South Australia last month.

For Justin Roylance and his team, the event was their first real opportunity to debut their all-new Outlaw Team Spitwater package, which had been developed by two young V8 Superboat talents from JRE Race Engines.

“Our aim was to put the boat back on the trailer every run, and we achieved that.” Despite qualifying sixth fastest, Justin missed the cut for the second final after an electrical gremlin put paid to their chanc- es of making the podium. We’ll take away what we learnt and come back at Griffith over Easter looking for a podium.”

Like the Keith event in South Australia, Griffith is arguably the toughest V8 Super- boat challenge of the year.

For more information on the 2017 Australian V8 Superboat Championships, visit www.v8superboats.com.au or www.face- book.com/theoutlaw67

In 2008 Kinesio tape (K tape) was donated to 58 countries for use during the Olympic Games. By the 2016 Olympic Games it was hard to miss; brightly coloured strips of tape decorating the arms, legs and torsos of many high profile athletes. With this exposure, the use of K tape has become increasingly popular amongst the general population. The question must be asked – does it really work?

In a nutshell, K tape is brightly coloured, stretchy tape that is designed to stick to the skin. Proponents of K tape claim the adhe- sive backing on the tape lifts the skin, creating channels of less pressure. They claim it increases blood flow and lymphatic drainage and reduces pressure on nerves, muscles, tendons, stimulates mechano-receptors, improves sporting performance and decreases swelling and pain after injury.

The inconvenient truth for any K tape believer is that for every research paper that shows a positive effect there is another one that shows little or no effect. Numerous systematic reviews have analysed the research data and none have reached any firm conclusions.

Many therapists will argue; if the athlete thinks it helps with pain and performance why not use it? I do not agree. If pain is helped by the use of K tape then it is unlikely there was significant tissue damage in the first place. In this case, tape isn’t needed and shouldn’t be used as a crutch.

Sure, an athlete may feel better after putting some tape on but I prefer the athlete to get better and back to sport by moving without fear. For the fitness of you.

Linda Reilly