Residents reap racing rewards

Over 100 racing team members at residential aged care provider Harbison are receiving medals and trophies this week for collectively riding 47,000 kilometres over 24 days of competition.

Residents at Harbison’s two homes in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales are avid users of the Norwegian-developed Motivew program – which combines a library of almost 3,000 high-definition semi-immersive videos with stationary cycling bikes in a social setting.

In October, 115 Harbison residents, known as the Slow Speed Demons, joined almost 7,000 riders from 10 countries, who collectively rode 333,230 virtual kilometres during Road Worlds for Seniors. The event is Motiview’s annual international sporting competition for older people including those with dementia.

This Wednesday, Harbison is handing out trophies and medals to all participants plus additional honours for top placings on the international stage, as well as for age categories, kilometre milestones and crew member of the year.

It was Harbison’s sixth time at the event and efforts were rewarded with Crew of the Year 2024 – an accolade awarded to a team that goes above and beyond to create an engaging, inclusive, and memorable experience for participants. 

Harbison chief executive officer David Cochran is thrilled.

“We have won Crew of the Year twice, in 2021 when Motiview was a gamechanger in Covid-19 lockdowns, and again in 2024. This reflects the broad support enjoyed by our residents from the community, and the way Motiview drives engagement and connection and shifts perceptions about ageing,” Mr Cochran tells Australian Ageing Agenda.

“Motiview fits well with our intergenerational program and has been popular with donors, grant programs, and sponsors who have generously funded most of our bikes.”

The Slow Speed Demons team from Harbison’s Moss Vale home came in second overall riding 33,513 km while their counterparts in Burradoo came fifth (13,519 km).

“[The program] gives me exercise that I wouldn’t otherwise get,” said one participant. “I do four to five hours a day. Building muscles in my legs… [In the competition] I had a goal of 2,000 kms and I’ve achieved this. I’m motivated to get to 3,000 kms now.”

Mr Cochran discovered the program during a study tour in Scandinavia six years ago. He introduced it to his organisation, and Australia, the same year with the purchase of a single adaptive stationary bike.

“When I discovered Motiview and Road Worlds for Seniors in 2018, I knew it had the potential to radically change the lived experience of care at Harbison.”

Today, the not-for-profit provider aims to have one bike for every 12 residents. The program also forms part of the organisation’s workforce attraction and retention strategy and intergenerational engagement program; playgroup attendees and students act as support crew for residents.

Last year Harbison partnered with researchers from Western Sydney University and MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development to investigate the social, physical, and cognitive benefits of participation in Road Worlds for Seniors.

The research findings, which are published in BMC Geriatrics, “highlight a constellation of benefits across physical, psychological, and social domains of wellbeing and inform a model for innovative multidimensional programs in residential aged care.”

The study found benefits for residents with varying physical and cognitive abilities while both residents and staff valued the program.

Earlier this year Harbison formed a partnership with Motiview’s developer Motitech to promote expansion of the program in Australia and New Zealand “The project has exceeded my highest hopes for inclusion, access, and improved wellbeing,” said Mr Cochran. “Simply the best and easiest decision I have made at Harbison.”

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