Under bluebird skies, Lochie Win (8) spent 12 hours skiing the slopes of Coronet Peak on Friday, raising more than $10,000 for the Cancer Society.
His "12 Hour Ski Challenge", which had been postponed for a week due to bad weather, consisted of 60 people on 14 teams completing as many runs as possible down the mountain.
Suited up in a tiger onesie and pinned with a daffodil, Lochie had been leading the charge since 8am, and, with a few strategic breaks, his team completed the full 12 hours of "non-stop skiing".
His third fundraiser for the Cancer Society in as many years, Lochie said it felt "amazing" to see so many people turn out to raise money for the non-profit.
He said his drive to su
pport the charity came from his family’s own experience with the disease.
"My mum got sick with cancer when I was 4 years old."
Now with his mother, Rebecca, in remission, Lochie regularly gives back to the Cancer Society, which supported her through her recovery.
"They were very helpful and very kind," he said.
And while the fundraiser had been a lot of work to organise, he found the event "very fun".
For his father, Luke, who has helped Lochie "rally support" for all his fundraising events, the day was "pretty inspirational".
"Three years now, we've been going at this ... and the fact that [he’s] organised something like this ... and he’s got this drive and people want to come and support it, is pretty special.
"I’ve had a few people come up to me today and go ‘is Lochie the ambassador for [the] Cancer Society?’ — he’s definitely the youngest ambassador for the Cancer Society of New Zealand, doing all this stuff, and it’s pretty cool."
He said Lochie had previously raised more than $40,000 for the Cancer Society and Friday’s fundraiser added another $17,000 to the tally, with more donations expected throughout the month.
Cancer Society Otago and Southland manager of supportive care services Marie Wales said the charity, which relies on community funding, could not function without people such as Lochie.
"What we do is ... we look at the person and the life of that person and [think] what are the challenges?
"So these guys support us being on the ground and in the community ... without people like Lochie, Luke and Rebecca our services don't exist, essentially."
Mr Win, who was very grateful for both the support from Coronet Peak, and a special appearance from Olympic freestyle skier Nico Porteous, said the success of the day came down to Lochie’s determination to "push and push and push".
"He told me ... he was going to try and crank 100 runs in the day ... he’s got a dream, he’s got a goal and that’s the thing about him.
"When I came in [at the end of the day], he had already finished ... he grabbed me and said ‘we did it, we got it done’."
■ Donations to Lochie’s fundraiser can made right through to the end of August via https://www.12hourski.co.nz/#donate
