Chocolate, lollies and lamb among prized grocery loot

An early-morning dash through a supermarket has been the stuff of dreams for a 10-year-old prizewinner.

Witherlea School pupil Oli de Zwart spent his 30-second Grocery Grab mainly in New World Blenheim’s confectionery aisle, filling his trolley with chocolate, biscuits and lollies before school on Wednesday.

He had studied the supermarket closely in a reconnaissance mission the day before and was careful to grab a big bucket of sherbet fizz lollies he had been eyeing up, he said.

‘‘I was trying to get more candy but I think I got enough,’’ Oli said, reviewing his trolley at the checkout afterwards, and promising to share with his appointed trolley-pusher, big sister Katherine.

Oli won his Grocery Grab as the pupil that sold the most tickets for the Witherlea School fundraiser, which had struggled since its annual fundraising gala had been unable to go ahead since 2019 due to Covid-19 restrictions.

The event was frenetic but there were some rules to observe, including the requirement they grab at least one meat product, one vegetable, one milk, one bread and one frozen item.

First prize winner Richard Bowling did not break a sweat during his twominute round, with some careful selections including Lewis Road Creamery milk and a bag of tomatoes.

‘‘Tomatoes are like gold at the moment,’’ he said as his groceries were bagged.

‘‘I am not as fast on my feet as I used to be. I will come back tomorrow and shop at a more leisurely pace.’’

As Bowling’s trolley did not add up to the minimum first prize amount of $1000, he went home with a voucher for the remaining $809.38.

Other winners included William Swarbrick, 19, and trolley-pusher Harry Gillespie, who grabbed items including two boxes of ice cream, a bag of avocados, a leg of lamb and a big packet of bacon.

‘‘We thought we would just go hard and fast, and it worked out all right,’’ Swarbrick said, still panting at the checkout.

‘‘The leg of lamb was just the nicest bit of meat there,’’ Swarbrick said.

Malinda Mcgrath said she and husband Robert deliberately went for nappies, wipes and infant formula for their 10-week-old child.

And they were careful to grab a block of chocolate for their 6-year-old daughter, Madison, as per her request, she said.

One prizewinner did not want their Grocery Grab and donated it in the form of a $750 voucher to the Marlborough Foodbank.

Witherlea School acting principal Symon Beattie said the fundraiser had been a huge success and while the final figure was still being calculated, it was enough to build a scooter racetrack at the school with a fleet of scooters and helmets for the pupils to use.