Jump for fundraiser
Hawke's Bay Rescue Helicopter to benefit
‘Five of my friends have been flown to hospital by the Hawke’s Bay Rescue Helicopter,” says Central Hawke’s Bay showjumper and avid fundraiser Claire Wilson.
Every year, Claire holds a grassroots showjumping competition, a fun event that she dubbed the Winter Olympics. This year will be the 15th Winter Olympics. It began as a fundraiser for Flemington School, raising $1000 in that first year.
Then it grew. Last year’s event raised $34,500 for Epic Ministries, a charity that focuses on the development of youth in Central Hawke’s Bay.
The event now attracts dozens of riders, adults and children and dozens of sponsors who donate everything from prizes and cups to auction items that are auctioned in their droves each year on Claire’s Facebook page – from glamping weekends and art to pea hay and truckloads of shingle.
Competitions now include a cowboy challenge, hobby horse events and photography, organised by a growing team of helpers, organisers and supporters.
This year’s main charity is the Hawke’s Bay Rescue Helicopter.
Four months ago, farmer Harvey Nelson found himself lying in a gully, his badly broken leg splinted with two dog collars and a tree branch.
He had been there almost five hours when he heard the Hawke’s Bay Rescue Helicopter overhead.
“The first time the chopper flew over, it buggered off again. I thought, ‘hang on, you’re meant to be rescuing me’ – but they had seen where I was,
in a creek in a gully, they had flown off to pick up a crew member who was winch-trained so they could pick me up,” says Harvey.
He had been mustering a 150ha paddock on a lease block at Waimarama in December, on horseback.
“I wasn’t anywhere I wouldn’t normally go. I was on a track above a creek, nothing challenging, I would have happily had my kids ride there.
“I don’t know what happened, I must have been knocked out. The next thing I remember, I was lying in a cattle rut and the horse was on top
of me. He was good, he didn’t struggle.
“I managed to pull myself out and dropped 1.5 metres into the creek. I knew I had to get out of the horse’s way. I was on my hands and knees but nothing was working, I tucked myself under the bank and he came crashing down beside me.”
Harvey looked down. His badly broken femur and tibia were poking out of the side of his leg.
“I had my dogs with me so I made a splint out of dog collars and a bit of wood. The horse was still in the creek so I tried to get back on him but eventually he took off.”
Harvey knew that when he didn’t come home, his wife and kids would look for him.
“I sat on the side of the creek, but after a while the flies were getting at my leg so I got in the water. I had to get out again after the eels started picking at my leg.”
In the meantime, Harvey’s wife Rachel and their children were searching and had found the horse.
Their neighbours were looking as well.
But Harvey was in “a shit place”.