The winning pair in the Highlanders hitchhiking race from Dunedin to Alexandra may have had a cunning tactic, but there was no red carpet at the finish line.
John Hardie and Ma'afu Fia made the 190-odd kilometre journey in 3hr 10min, 15min ahead of the second team, thanks in part to Mosgiel woman Jean Steel.
Hardie said after the team split up into pairs, he and Fia would wait a short distance down the road from team-mates thumbing a ride, in the hope anyone indecisive about picking the others up would stop for them.
It worked.
''We don't play in the forwards for nothing,'' Hardie said of the plan.
Mrs Steel saw the pair at a turn-off to Dunedin airport, picked them up after driving past another team, and dropped them at Milton.
She waited at the turn-off to Central Otago on State Highway 8, while they hitched with another driver to fill the requirements of at least three rides, and collected them again.
When they arrived in Alexandra, Mrs Steel, who was ''definitely'' a Highlanders fan, said it had been ''pretty fun'' with Hardie and Fia on board.
''My car [a Nissan Pulsar hatchback] felt a little weighed down on the hills, but it made it through.''
There was no welcoming party at the holiday park where they were staying.
''I think it might just be bragging rights,'' Fia said. Teams set off at 10.30am yesterday, and had to reach Alexandra by 5pm.
Fia said the hardest part of the day was getting out of Dunedin, and it took five rides to complete the race.
Along the way, each team had challenges to complete.
They had to have a photo with each person who gave them a ride - and had to get a minimum of three rides - a photo with an ''iconic landmark'', and a photo of the ''best feed for $10''.
They also had to video people saying ''The Highlanders made our day''.
But perhaps the hardest challenge was to write a poem about the journey.
At the end of the day, Jason Emery and Dan Pryor had to be picked up by the sweeper vehicle, after heading a little too far south and making it to Balclutha.
Team manager Paul McLaughlan said the event was planned to get the team interacting with their supporters and the community.
