Cure kids $10 Novotel Queenstown Challenge 8th

Andy Thorne

We went, we hitched, we rocked it and we want to say…THANK YOU!!

Mario & Luigi, alias Ryan & Brendon of Pulse IT, crossed the finish line 10th on Sunday afternoon, having helped to raise over $8,000 for Cure Kids!

Along with 17 other teams of two, Team Extreme spent 3 days of early wake ups, physical and mental challenges to grab more points for their team and plenty of
hitch-hiking ops as they made their way from Queenstown to Auckland.

A few $10 Challenge tips we’d like to share with you:

Make sure all your limbs are inside the vehicle before your driver takes off
Don’t expect your GPS to work in the back of a windowless, refrigerated milk truck
If you’re going to play pranks on another team, make sure you give them someone else’s room number
Yes, you CAN do that death-defying challenge - remember it’s all for the kids!

Brendon’s thoughts….

When Ryan first asked me to join him in this “race” from one end of the country to the other I was a little hesitant. After hearing it was to raise money for the Cure Kids charity I was 100% behind it and willing to give it a go even though (after checking out previous race footage on YouTube) I realised I would be tested and put in situations well outside my comfort zone. The highlight of the challenge for me was hitch-hiking from Wellington to Auckland, and in particular the awesome people we met during this journey. Along the way we had to compete in challenges which earned us points, my favourites were; panning for gold in central Otago and the trapeze at the ropes course in Taupo. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who contributed to our cause by donating money; Our team managed to raise over $8000 and the event as a whole raised a total of $263,000 with 100% of that money going to Cure Kids

Ryan’s thoughts….

This was one of the most fun and challenging things I’ve done - Talk about stretching!
It was an awesome time meeting plenty of Kiwi’s who went out of their way to help us get up the country.
A special thanks to the milk truck man who helped us get from Paekakariki – although it was getting rather dark and cold in that fridge after a while!
After learning more about CureKids on the way up the country, I’m very grateful to our sponsors – it’s such a great cause.
Highlight – The Milk Truck, and the general day from Wellington to Rotorua hitch hiking the whole way and coming in 3rd place at the end of day two – we had a lot of lifts with amazing people that day! (not to mention the fun of sending room service up to team Turnstone (Batman and Robin) at mid-night to wake them up and give us the edge going into day three!)
I would recommend anyone to give this a go next year – an amazing way to see the country, a lot of fun, and a fantastic cause.