Tough Gal Lily, 9, raises $1600 in mud challenge
Havelock Nth pupil highest fundraiser
Thanks to Lily, kids in the hospital will be able to have their parents close to them while they recover.
Hundreds of Hawke’s Bay kids participate in the junior Tough Guy and Tough Gal Challenge. The challenges are one of New Zealand’s largest mud-run series.
Havelock North Primary student Lily McLaughlin has taken on the junior Tough Guy and Tough Gal challenge for the second year and has topped it off by rasing the highest amount of money, nationwide, for the challenge’s chosen charity — Ronald McDonald House.
The junior challenge gives primary and intermediate-aged kids a chance to participate in a mud run tailored especially for their skill set.
Competitors take on a 1.5km or 3km muddy obstacle course consisting of swamp crossings, water crossing, net climbing, crawling under obstacles running through native bush trails, tunnels, jumping over hurdles and up climbing frames.
Lily first ran in Tough Guy Tough Gal last year, and a week before this year’s run she noticed the event had teamed up with Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) as its charity partner.
Lily and her father, Aiden McLaughlin, started working to put together her donation page and get the word out to family and friends.
Lily was the highest fundraiser for the Hawke’s Bay Tough Guy and Gal challenge, raising more than $1600 to go towards the RMHC.
When asked what it felt like when she found out she was the nation’s top fundraiser for the event the 9-year-old said: “I think it’s a really good cause so I was really happy to raise the money.”
For raising the most money Lily won a new Samsung Galaxy A7 Lite tablet — although she said she didn’t even know there was a prize.
“Winning the tablet was such a big surprise,” Lily said.
A spokesperson from RMHC thanked Lily for all her hard work to support families staying at RMHC New Zealand.
“Thanks to Lily, kids in the hospital will be able to have their parents close to them while they recover,” the spokesperson said.
Lily and her friends had so much fun at the Tough Guy Tough Gal Challenge that she encourages everyone to give it a go next year. “It’s a fun activity that kids can do, it’s not really competitive and everyone helps each other. The best part of the challenge was getting all muddy.”