Walking the length of New Zealand to raise funds to keep students rowing
There’s no end to the ways fund-raising can be done, but Westlake Boys High School’s rowing programme is benefitting from one of the more innovative this year.
Clare Logan, who has a son in the schools under 17 group, is letting her feet do the walking as she sets out after this weekend’s conclusion to the Aon Maadi Cup at Lake Ruataniwha on the final 115km to complete the 3000km Te Araroa Trail the length of New Zealand.
It has been something of a stop-start affair, given Covid disruptions and two failed attempts, due to snow, to walk from Lewis Pass to St Arnaud.
And to add a rowing flavour, much of it was done around regattas, as she dropped in and out of camps, and all the while flying the Westlake flag around the country.
Logan, who is Westlake Boys Rowing Society operations manager, estimates the walk might usually take about four months but she’s given herself six, to allow for hiccups along the way.
She had been planning to go to Patagonia at the southern end of South America with a girlfriend in December-January 2020 before Covid abruptly halted that.
Friends suggested she should walk to raise funds – ‘’and I thought maybe I should’’, therefore combining her strong interest in tramping with putting in for the rowing community at the North Shore school.
She works for Vodafone, who have a Double Your $$ programme through its foundation for staff members raising money.
‘’So for every $3000 I raised per financial year, Vodafone will match that,’’ Logan said.
Last year she raised a combined $16,000 through a mix of friends and family and the company scheme.
As of now, she has raised almost $17,000 and is hoping to boost that amount to about $22,000 by the end of the fund raiser.
‘’The money I raised last year was for a hardship fund for the coaches,’’ she said.
‘’A lot of work goes into getting kids across the line, but a lot of money is needed for coaching resources. We’ve helped two or three boys continue to row this season and helped get some to Maadi.’’
Another $6000 will help another two or three boys to keep rowing.
‘’It’s a great sport for teaching you a lot of life lessons and the more kids that get the chance the better.’’
While Logan saw quite a lot of people on the North Island trails, when she was walking the South Island last year, she estimates she saw about half a dozen.
Logan is happy tramping with just herself for company.
‘’I do love the tramping and did most of it on my own.
‘’It’s nice to see people but I’m quite happy unless I’ve sat down at dinner and do want someone to talk to.
‘’A lot of parents in the club were saying ‘it doesn’t sound safe’ but it’s as safe as you make it. The hardest thing on Te Araroa was not seeing people when you got to a hut. I struggled with that a bit near the end.’’
She’s seen the sights from Cape Reinga to Bluff and popped into camps and regattas around the country.
One of her favourite parts of the Trail, however, is yet to come. The Nelson Lakes are one of her favourite areas in the country.
She hopes that when she’s finished – and admits she’ll take a lot of satisfaction at completing it – she will have ‘’shown kids and parents that you can move on from bad stuff’’,ie Covid.
And Patagonia remains on her horizon.
Check out Clare's givealittle page here