Tararua Challenge

The Challenge

Shaun & Elyse

Bronson

Our Sponsor

Hello there and thank you for visiting our fundraising page.

****The Challenge****

So from a moment of reckless thinking we are now here! We have decided to take on what is dubbed as 'the hardest mountain run in NZ'.

The Tararua Challenge is a 35.5 km mountain run through the heart of the Tararua Ranges. Total ascent for this race is 2,250m with a total descent of 2,475m. As this is an extreme event we have been training for the past three months getting up to speed. The organisers describe this event by saying only the very fit or insane contemplate running all of it. Hmmmm which one we are????

Click on the link to the left to discover what we are doing.

****The Charity****

The charity which we are fundraising for is the Ronald McDonald House:

"Ronald McDonald House Auckland is a ‘home away from home’ for New Zealand families with seriously ill children. We provide shelter and support for the family when a child requires specialist treatment which is not available in their own community."

"A total of 7,911 family members spent 17,333 room nights with us during 2007 (an 11% increase on 2006) – every single one of these families had a seriously ill child receiving treatment at Starship children’s hospital in Auckland."

"We are a 100% community-owned charitable trust and we rely heavily on funding support from the wider New Zealand community to help run our facilities and support our families."

Shaun has a personal interest in this project as one of his very close friends has a nephew in this house. Bronson Seng(Picture to the left) is a young bubbly 4 ½ month old boy. Bronson suffers from a heart condition called cardiomyopathy caused by a enterovirus. He contracted the virus at 9 days old has been in and out of Palmerston Nth and Starship hospitals respectively for the last 4 months.

With the help of this house the family (who are from Kuku in Horowhenua) have been able to stay close to him in the Auckland house while he recovers. Our wishes go out to you Bronson.

****Our Sponsors****

Chesters Plumbing & Bathroom Centre is our main sponsor for this event. Without their help we would not be able to take on this challenge. Please pay a visit to our sponsor's website by clicking on the logo to the left.

****What’s Next?****

We will do all the hard work, train for and complete this event, but we would love for you to support us by making a donation to our charity the Ronald McDonald House.

All you need to do is:

Select the "Make a donation" button below. It's easy to do and totally secure.

For cheque or money donations please send to RMDH,110119,Auckland hospital,Auckland, 1030 re: Rebecca Shadwell Tararua Challenge

So please sponsor us now!

Many thanks for your support
Shaun & Elyse

*************************************
******** Updates ********
*************************************

9/02/2008: Have just completed a run up to the Pinnacles in Coromandel. 3 Hours, wow my legs are not used to that!

16/02/2008: Attempted to do a practice run of the race course. After 4 hours we reached the half way point absolutely exhausted. Weather closed in stopping us from going any further. Back down to the start 8.75 hours after starting. This was the most exhausting thing I have ever done.

24/02/2008: Just did 4.5 hours through the Waitakere ranges. It seems the 4hour point is where our legs start to break down

2/03/2008: Finished another 4.5 hour run through the Waitakeres. Our legs are starting to last longer now as the endurance builds.

4/03/2008: Less than a week to go till the big event and our total is now over $1000!!!!

6/03/2008: Now only a couple of days to go. We have reached the 3/4 point for our fundraising goal, exciting! We have stopped all training now and are in rest mode.


07/03/2008: So we are off down to Wellington. 9 hours of driving coming up!!! 9 hours of running comming up too! Thanks to all those who donated we will update when we get back. Keep it coming!


09/03/2008: So we did it!!! We finished the race!!! We completed the course in 7 hours 50 minutes which was good enough for 2nd place in the open mixed category. My body is extremely sore but we are on a runners high after that. The weather was atrocious over 1000m and we got battered by the wind for over 2 hours before we started descending. In all it was an amazing experience and not something that I will ever forget.

11/04/2008: Well a month on and we have reached our donations goal of $2000. This has been an incredible experience and the genorosity of some people continues to blow me away. Again thank you to all those who have donated, you have made a difference.

****ALSO an update about Bronson****

The big man has made huge strides of progress and is due to be released out of hospital this weekend!!!