Lawn Mower Charity Hike

Pushing the lawn mower around an average sized lawn is hard work, especially on a hot and sunny day, so you can

only imagine the effort required to carry and push a lawnmower around a 70 kilometre course at the base of a mountain. That is exactly what two men from Cambridge, New Zealand did in order to raise money for two year-old Reef Smith, who was diagnosed with leukaemia. Erin Hampson-Tindale and Terry Davis wanted to raise money for the boy after Erin read about the story in the school newsletter, and Terry had the idea of using lawnmowers to simulate Reef’s weight to add to the challenge of hiking around the base of Mt Ruapehu, which the men expected would take around 24 hours.

The trek includes a climb of 8,000 feet over 25 kilometres, and they needed to carry at least 20 litres of water to sustain them around the course. With the weight of the lawn mowers included this was around 30 kilos for each man to carry, although Terry Davis combined carrying his mower with pushing it and pulling it around with him. The ordeal lasted for 26 hours in total, starting early in the morning of Tuesday, 29^th December 2015. They finished on the 30^th, after a long and painful walk around the base of New Zealand’s largest active volcano that gave them blisters due to the extra weight pushing their feet down. The men had not slept for a long time, which made it even harder, but instead of stopping for a break the men decided to plough on and finish as soon as they could.

The families of the two men were camping at the start and finish line waiting for them to return, and supported them by sending messages of encouragement as the made their way around the mountain. For Hampson-Tindale this was the motivation that kept him going, and he says he ran the last five miles in order to get back to his family as quickly as possible. So far the pair have raised in excess of A$1,200 including donations received during the walk from a group of hikers.

Hampson-Tindale plans to run the 100 mile Central Otago Northburn race in March, which he does every year after

training around Ruapehu. The training he has done this year will put him in good stead for his next endeavour, for which he will also carry a lawnmower to simulate Reef’s weight in order to raise more funds. Donations can be made here if you would like to support this feat of endurance.

Raising money for charity by involving lawn mowers seems to be a habit in the Southern Hemisphere if the tale of Claude Harvey is anything to go by. Now 68, the Queensland resident has been pushing lawnmowers across the state for charity for over 17 years, having raised a total of A$430,000 in ten years for one charity dedicated to safeguarding children. In 2012 he completed a 2,260 kilometre walk over several months, raising well over A$90,000 on that walk alone. He says the reason he pushes the customised lawn mower is to draw attention to his charity goals, as if he was walking alone no-one would take any notice.

Perhaps this year will be the first time someone attempts the London Marathon pushing or carrying a lawn mower?