Super scooters survive

A magnitude 7.8 earthquake, being the first responders to a car accident, cancelled ferries and the support Mini Cooper dying would be enough to derail any trip.

But the challenges never threatened Kerikeri’s Simon Bristow, Matt Cooper, Anthony Chalder-Royle and Mike Quilter from completing their Super Scooter Charity Ride.

Riding at top speeds of 60 km/h on 50cc scooters from Bluff to Cape Reinga, the group have raised close to $12,000 for charity.

Doctor Simon Bristow says while some people might have seen all of their challenges as unfortunate the group feel fortunate to have overcome them.

Before the group had even left Bluff, the 1973 Mini Cooper that was the planned support vehicle ‘‘blew up’’.

The next challenge proved to be one of New Zealand’s largest ever natural disasters, the magnitude 7.8 earthquake near Kaikoura.

The itinerary originally planned for a night in Kaikoura, the night the earthquake hit, but Bristow says they were making good time and decided to push onto Blenheim.

‘‘To survive the earthquake and to get to Picton and Wellington when the ferries were struggling and managing to get out of Wellington.

‘‘It was a highlight being able to overcome those odds. We had a lot of good luck.’’

They were also first on the scene of a car accident outside Balclutha, which Bristow says could easily have involved one of the scooter riders as a wheel flew off an up-ended ute.

While the first few days of the trip caused ‘‘sore butts and backaches’’, Bristow says the last day’s ride from Kerikeri to Cape Reinga was quite enjoyable.

The group reached Cape Reinga on November 19 after nine days on the road, completing over 2100km.

‘‘We are very happy and grateful raising $12,000 for charity, it was a mad idea but it was something to do. We are proud that we did it through adversity.’’

Each member of the team were championing a different charity with Cooper supporting the New Zealand Lung Foundation, Chalder-Royle raising money for The Champion Centre and Bristow raising funds for Bald Angels, who he is a trustee for.

To donate: superscooterride.com