BDO Cure Kids Fundraising

The Cure Kids race was in the Hunua Ranges to the South East of Auckland. Team BDO took up an ‘elite’ crew of four racers and four support crew members to the event with a combination of seasoned race veterans and adventure race freshies.

Race day started with a fairly debilitating rise at 4.30am with the race kicking off at 8am. The race itself consisted of map navigation of three legs with sections involving trekking through heavy forest on the hills, traversing waterways, up and down hill mountain biking (with a substantial amount of bike walking) and finishing with a ‘gentle’ run/sprint through roads and farmland to finish.  Each leg concluded with checkpoints where the racers could catch up with the support crew, refuel and change disciplines.

After a gruelling 7 hours and 8 minutes, and various amount of blood, tears and sweat (in order of increasing volume), our BDO team finished the race in a respectable in 8^th place (unfortunately we were pipped at the line for 7^th which is where the majority of tears occurred) out of 22 teams. The winning team completed the race in just over six and a half hours with the final teams not yet having arrived after 9 hours of racing.

Lessons Learnt

• Always make file notes. They come in handy when you discover that the van which was meant to have a tow ball doesn’t.

• The shortest route is not always the quickest or cleanest route.

• Don’t always believe a “wrong way” sign. They aren’t always correct.

• If in doubt ask friendly mountain bikers for directions.

• Downhill mountain bike tracks are not designed for pushing mountain bikes up.

• Even after 7hrs of racing there could be a sprint finish, be prepared.

Fundraising:

Our fundraising campaign raised a total of $13,500, which eclipsed our required entry fundraising fee of $10,000, and was a great result for our hardworking fundraising team and all those that attended the events.\

Official fundraising figures, released from the event organisers, provided total fundraising of a massive $280,595.24. This will be used to fund vital medical research to find better treatments and cures for serious health conditions that affect children.

A big thank you to everyone who attended our fundraising initiatives, including the movie, evening, charity auction and quiz nights.  Your support has been invaluable in contributing to this great cause and we hope to have everyone involved next year when we hope to compete again.