Otago Boys’ High School rowers got to pick the brains of a southern man on a coastal rowing adventure along the entire east coast of New Zealand.
Ian Hamilton took a break yesterday from his 70km rowing days covering the 3000km east coast of New Zealand to stop in Dunedin and have a chat about his journey.
Mr Hamilton told the boys he got into coastal rowing to raise funds for some rowing sheds in Invercargill.
He rowed the entire Foveaux Strait in 2010 and immediately knew he had to row the Cook Strait as well — which he did in 2016 to fundraise for youth cancer charity Canteen.
His message to the boys was to dream big.
"If you have a desire to do something, don’t be afraid to have that desire and complete it."
He said rowing was a common denominator in his family history and so he told the boys to look into their family histories as well.
"It’s planted a few seeds and probably got them thinking about their family tree and a direction they may look to."
Mr McDowell was fundraising $5 million to be evenly distributed between the charities Lions Clubs Cancer Trust, Child Cancer, Starship and Surf Life Saving.
He said communities had supported rowers to buy equipment and build new sheds for years and this was a way of giving back using the sport.
"This is my idea of how can we get together, form a bond and a working relationship to give back to the community and do some fundraising for these amazing charities that all Kiwis have a connection to."
His journey finishes on July 20 and he intends to depart from Karitane tomorrow morning.
So far his Givealittle page had generated more than $7000.
