SA toy-run champ set for Big Apple dash
WHAT would you pull off the shelves if you ever got the chance to compete in a 60-second toy shop trolley dash?
Ayush Ramchurran, 11, got a hoverboard, three top-of-therange remote-control cars, a helicopter drone, a car racetrack and a pile of PlayStation 4 games.
It’s every child’s dream, and after winning the South African leg of the Nickelodeon Ultimate Toy Run, the Durban schoolboy gets to do it all over again at the international finals in New York in October.
“I have been practising my running every day for the competition. I can’t wait to see what cool toy cars they have in the American store,” Ayush said.
The trolley dash will be held at Toys R Us in New York.
The South African competition attracted 55 000 entries from children aged between six and 12. From this, 12 finalists were chosen at random to participate in one of three toy runs that were held in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape.
Each challenge had four contestants, who ran through the store for 60 seconds, loading a trolley with products up to the value of R15 000.
Each trolley dash was filmed and uploaded online, and more than 242 000 fans voted for their favourite. Ayush came out tops with 50 917 votes.
His mother, Surjeetha Ramchurran, said that when Ayush first asked her to send the SMS entry for him, she did it to make him happy but never thought anything of it.
“When Nickelodeon called him to compete at Gateway Mall in July, I couldn’t believe that a single entry could get him chosen [as a finalist],” she said.
On arrival, all contestants were given 60 seconds to scout out the store before the race and, once the bell sounded, Ayush sprinted — it was “the coolest thing I have ever done”, he said.
“When I grow up I want to be an auto engineer — that’s why I picked out so many cars.”
The Everest Heights Primary School pupil will fly to New York with his parents and elder brother for the finals, where the ultimate winner will take home not only all the toys accumulated in the trolley dash, but also $5 000 (about R67 000) in cash.
An excited Ayush said he was ready for the trip. “I can’t wait to see the Statue of Liberty, Times Square and what the Toys R Us there looks like.”