Supporter of rescue helicopters
was at Garry’s bedside in Dunedin Hospital, at least four helicopters landed and took off from there every day.
McLister’s injuries will prevent him from competing in the annual Westpac Chopper Bike Ride from Queenstown to Invercargill, on May 12.
This year is the seventh ride and McLister has taken part in six.
The ride starts at Frankton at 6am, with groups beginning at intervals.
Riders will stop at five schools on the journey - Garston, Dipton, Drummond, Isla Bank and Central Southland College.
A rescue helicopter will make a brief visit to the college while the riders have lunch there.
Reece McDonald, of Invercargill, has been taking riders on training runs in recently months. Each of the 60 entrants in the 245-kilometre event is required to raise $1000. All money and donations received are given to the Lake Districts Air Rescue Trust, which operates helicopters out of Te Anau and Queenstown.
McLister, a shift worker at the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter - three days and two nights on and four days off, has never had trouble raising his $1000. Most of it has come from work colleagues.
Murray Heath, a manager at Westpac, organises the yearly ride.
Heath said the delight on the riders’ faces when they finish in Invercargill was special.
The six rides have raised a total of $300,000, Heath said.
The women competing this year are raising their money by holding a charity ball at Bill Richardson Transport World in Invercargill on April 29. The theme is recycle and reusable.
‘‘One year, a lady’s estate donated $100,000 [to the ride],’’ Heath said.
Westpac’s Invercargill branch manager, Phil Taylor, has taken part in all six rides and will line up again this year. The event is the brainchild of Rugby Southland general manager Andrew Moreton, who came up with the idea when employed as Westpac’s Southland area manager.