Fundraiser ‘most successful’ yet
An Australian and a team from Christchurch were among the more than 100 basketballers to take to the Caroline Bay courts for charity over the weekend.
Event managing director Sam Macfarlane said the fourth annual 24-hour Timaru basketball tournament was expected to have ‘‘smashed’’ its fundraising goal of about $3000, team numbers jumped from six last year to 10 and raffles have been extended to Wednesday because of high demand.
‘‘We haven’t had a chance to count up all we’ve raised but this has been our most successful fundraiser by far,’’ Macfarlane said.
Money raised benefits the South Can- terbury Hospice and Cancer Society. It’s a cause close to Macfarlane’s heart as he lost his mother, Jane, to melanoma in 2014.
‘‘A lot of people take pride in fighting for cancer and supporting cancer workers and patients,’’ he said.
‘‘One guy came over from Australia just to play.’’
Macfarlane said with so much interest outside South Canterbury, he was considering holding a second tournament in another town or city.
‘‘But I don’t think we’ll ever get a better spot than down at the bay, with the beach and the parking and the general atmosphere.’’
Forty-five games were squeezed into the tournament, which started at 10am on Saturday – only interrupted by about an hour of strong wind.
The tournament had faced issues with rain in previous years, but this was the first time wind was a problem.
‘‘The wind was pretty serious but everyone chipped in, just taking down tents before they got destroyed,’’ Macfarlane said.
‘‘That stopped a couple of games.’’ He was unsure how many people stopped by to watch the games, but a 100-seat grandstand was ‘‘overflowing’’ when the final rolled around.
The theme of the tournament was Kobe Bryant, who died in a helicopter crash in the United States on January 26.
‘‘Myself and a lot of my friends were sad when we heard the news. We grew up watching him and thought he was the man,’’ Macfarlane said.
‘‘Some of the teams wore Kobe uniforms, and we had a life-size cutout of him so he was there for the whole 24 hours.’’
Macfarlane said each game was 24 minutes long to pay tribute to the number on Bryant’s Los Angeles Lakers jersey.