Cadburys Takes The Honours In Cure Kids Race
Cadburys Takes The Honours In Inaugural Cure Kids Great Adventure Race
April 2 2004: Cadburys made a clean sweep at the inaugural Cure Kids Great Adventure Race in the Waitakere Ranges today.
Twenty two teams entered the corporate multi-sport race and Cadburys Moro Maxed completed the gruelling course to finish at Piha Beach in 5hrs 30m 06 secs after overtaking the rest of the field.
Cadbury’s second team Cadbury Nutbreakers was just five minutes behind to take second place in 5hrs 35.09 secs.
Third place went to Merck Sharp and Dohme Drug Runners in 5.41.42 secs.
The event involved teams of four running/trekking, mountainbiking, coasteering, kayaking and swimming. They had to pass through a series of checkpoints to complete the course.
Race Director Alan Nelson was impressed with the standard of the teams and the results they achieved.
“It was a challenging and the teams worked well together. They were obviously well prepared. They had trained in the environment and followed the race theme of no surprises.”
Adventure racing guru Steve Gurney was at the start to kick the race off and reminded the athletes that no matter how much pain they might suffer on the day, it was nothing compared to the pain some young New Zealand children suffer every day.
The event raised funds for Cure Kids, the charity which funds research into children’s life threatening illnesses. A cheque for $286,000 was presented to Cure Kids which was the combined total of funds raised by the companies involved in the event.
To coincide with the race Chair of Child Health Research at Otago University, Professor Stephen Robertson announced a world first breakthrough in the isolation of a gene which causes joint problems in babies. The groundbreaking research has been achieved in collaboration with leading US researchers and is being published in the prestigious American ‘Nature Genetics’ publication.
ENDS