Accor Hotels $10 Queenstown Challenge to Cure Kids an unprecedented sell-out
For the first time in its seven-year history, the Accor Hotels $10 Queenstown Challenge to Cure Kids has sold out, with a record number of competitors due to take part in the fundraising event next month.
An unprecedented 35 teams have registered for the three-day Amazing Race-style trek from Auckland to Queenstown. A major fundraiser for Cure Kids, to take part each two-person team has to raise a minimum of $6,000 on top of their entry fee.
They will then converge at the Ibis Budget Hotel at Auckland Airport on October 3 before embarking on a life-changing three days of fun challenges that finish at Hotel St Moritz in Queenstown on October 6.
The teams range from parents of a child who lives with a life-threatening illness through to Cure Kids’ key partner corporate participants, to Nothing Trivial stars and members of the public who have joined up with friends or family to compete. Many are competing for a second time.
“We have been overwhelmed by the number of people who are willing to step out of their comfort zone to help us raise vital funds to invest into medical research,” says Cure Kids CEO Vicki Lee.
“Children who live with a life-threatening condition are challenged every day so we like our events to be challenging too.
“The Challenge will test them both mentally and physically but they will be making a life-saving difference to children who live with a life-threatening illness.
“But is it also about having fun raising funds. Competitors finish feeling absolutely rewarded for their efforts knowing it’s all for a cure.”
Cure Kids’ key partner Accor Hotels is sponsoring the event again this year, as part of its commitment to sustainability and corporate social responsibility.
“Cure Kids sits at the heart of the internal culture at Accor Hotels across New Zealand and has huge support and passion from our employees,” says Lucy Acott, Accor director of marketing, New Zealand and Fiji.
“Giving back to the local community in which our hotels operate is a key element of Accor’s belief in and commitment to sustainability and we’re extremely proud to have been title sponsor since the Challenge began seven years ago, drawing much inspiration from this wonderful organisation, the families that touch our lives and the sheer dedication of the participants,both in their fundraising efforts, and all the challenges they face over the three days.”
Maintaining the element of surprise, the route and challenges have been kept a closely-guarded secret, however participants have been encouraged to learn the platinum-selling single “Feel Inside (and stuff like that)” that was written by Flight of the Conchords as part of the Red Nose Day to Cure Kids fundraising campaign in August.
And teams have been given their first challenge – “Pimp My Ride” – with points awarded for the most unique and embellished vehicle that will get them from the Ibis Budget Hotel at Auckland Airport on October 4 to their next challenge in Hamilton.
The Accor Hotels $10 Queenstown Challenge to Cure Kids will create quite a spectacle – with clowns, Smurfs, Jaffas and M&Ms, princesses and even superheroes all looking for encouragement and a lift from one challenge to the next.
For up-to-the-minute updates on where they are on the Challenge, go to the Cure Kids Facebook page.
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