The Brice family have finally found a moment to put their feet up.
The family took part in the Back to Base challenge last month to raise money for the Westpac Rescue Helicopter, 8-year-old Felicity cycling 100km, 6-year-old Hugo 112km, and mum Alice running 155km.
The siblings had an initial target of 97km, the distance it took for the rescue helicopter to fly from Mt Hutt to Christchurch Hospital and then back to base.
Mrs Brice said the month began with a goal of raising $500, which they had decided was the perfect amount for their first family fundraiser.
However, as of late last week, they had raised $1812.
The trio came third place in the website’s overall leaderboard, which Mrs Brice said had been quite impressive for their first fundraiser.
She had been shocked by their success, as other teams had far more members ‘‘and far more adults’’.
She said it had been easy cause to fundraise for.
“People love to support this charity — as you just never know when you or a loved one will need to use them.’’
Mrs Brice said the month had been amazing, and she was pleased to come away uninjured.
She said her children have had a couple of discussions about how fit they have become.
Felicity said ‘‘It gets you really fit. It gets hard at some points, but you get used to it.’’
Her mother said there had been one day in particular where the children had to go out on a wet and cold Sunday.
‘‘Felicity in particular was not happy about it, but afterwards they were both full of smiles with mud squirted up their back.
‘‘That night we talked about how Olympians wouldn’t always want to train but when you have a goal you have to work hard. They had completely changed their attitude and were very proud.’’
She said it was the last time they complained.
“They learned more life lessons than I anticipated from this experience.’’
For Hugo, it was ‘‘You work hard for yourself.’’
‘‘They learnt about goal setting, how to push themselves and what it means to fundraise. We had to change the chat early on as they talked about how much money they had, when it wasn’t their money.’’
She felt it was so good for the children to learn about doing hard stuff to support others.
‘‘It also was a great way for our family to pull together for a cause.
‘‘We were literally doing a little dance when everyone donated. It made us so happy.’’
Mrs Brice said they were scheming holiday adventures and working on a bike packing trip and to do the West Coast Wilderness Trail.
She was incredibly thankful to all of the generous supporters.
‘‘Thank you to the people who donated for us,’’ Hugo said.
