Over 70 trucks tackle infamous road for charity

AT least 72 trucks drove past a once dangerous and deadly section of the Hume Highway, Sylvia’s Gap at Tumblong, New South Wales, to help raise funds for a local museum last month.

The Sylvia’s Gap Run is an annual event that started in 2015 in order to raise money for the truck museum and shed, the Australian Road

Transport Heritage Centre (ARTHC), in Gundagai.

This year’s event, which was held on the weekend of June 10 and 11, included a gala dinner on Saturday, a breakfast catchup at the Gundagai Showgrounds on Sunday followed by a truck road run along the 10km notorious road section just south of Tumblong.

The Sylvia’s Gap, which is now closed to the public, was once a part of the main highway connecting Sydney and Melbourne. It includes a number of deep cuttings and winding road that saw many fatal accidents and near-misses joining in after the start.

“We are extremely happy with the response from the locals and the trucking community,” said Daryl Westin, who is the secretary of the organising committee that comprises of

“Now that we have purchased the shed, as opposed to renting it as we did earlier, we have to deal with a lot more expenses. We’re also trying to update the shed and the facility to make it more user friendly, and the money raised will help us in that effort,” Westin added.

“We’d like to thank the two local farming families, the Horsleys and the McDonalds, who own the rural sections of the land that we used for the truck run, for their continued support.

“We’re also grateful to the 20 odd volunteers who helped us in every way to make this a great event. There’s a lot of setting up, tidying up, and getting ready for the next thing, so we’re really appreciative of their support.”