Held every second year, the PlaceMakers Southern Scooter Challenge sets off from Bluff at 8am on Saturday morning — joining this year are three Queenstown volunteer fireys, Steve ‘Special’ Gallagher, Chris Lindop and Jesse Johnston, along with their former chief fire officer Andrew Bary, who’s now based in Dunedin.
This year’s event’s raising money for Hospice Southland, which also covers the Whakatipu Basin.
Gallagher says it’ll likely take them eight hours to travel the 220km — they’ll reach a top speed of about 45kmh — finishing at The Crown, at Five Mile.
While it’s not a race, according to the event info, it’s designed to be the "coldest, longest, hardest, most gruelling and uncomfortable test of endurance on a city scooter".
Given there’s a sniff of snow in the forecast, possibly down to ground-level, that’s a given, though they are hoping for a tail-wind to help them along.
Lindop completed the ride in 2022 and says he was "battered by the weather" from Bluff to Lumsden — "we were drenched" — while Johnston planned to enter, but blew up his scooter beforehand.
"I churned the engine too much ... I was [trying] to make it go as fast as possible."
While the trio freely admit the event’s a bit of fun, there’s a serious cause at the heart of it.
Hospice Southland provides free palliative care to those with a life-limiting illness in the region, ideally in their setting of choice.
Each participant has to raise at least $100 — as of yesterday, $71,633 had been raised, with the Queenstown fireys in pole position for group fundraising (just over $5000) and Gallagher first for individual efforts ($2629).
Johnston: "A lot of people fundraise for us, so we’re quite happy to fundraise for other people as well — it’s all swings and roundabouts, really."
To donate, visit southernscooterchallenge.co.nz
