With many charities struggling to make ends meet, a Nelson man came up with a whacky way to do just that by riding 86km on ride-on lawnmowers.
The Molesworth Rampage is in its second year after raising $68,000 in 2024 for the Nelson Tasman Hospice and Nelson Cancer Society Tasman. Dozens of riders and their decorated ride-on lawnmowers drove from the Molesworth Station through to Hanmer Springs.
It’s the brain child of Nelson business man Stuart Newport who came up with the idea one Sunday afternoon in his garage.
“It’s like a bunch of big kids really,” he said. “I mean who as a kid wouldn’t have loved to have something like this to ride around on…. it’s that cause that just brings people together”.
This year his mower was tricked out as Mario Kart, and Newport had the matching outfit too.
“These two organisations are constantly battling to get funds and we thought, you know, we can make a small difference,” he said.
The Molesworth Rampage, now in its second year, supports Nelson Tasman Hospice and Cancer Society. (Source: 1News)
Nelson Tasman Hospice’s Donna Ching-Tregidga says she was a bit surprised when Newport initially pitched the idea.
“I thought it was awesome. I mean, I thought it was crazy,” she said.
“But as Stu described it that when you go through an illness or a treatment it is all about grit. It is all about endurance. It is all about getting people around you to support you through that journey and that really is what the Molesworth is”.
Many of the riders who took part last year had been impacted by either the cancer society or hospice in some way and wanted to give back.
“So we care for around 210 patients a month and we’ve got a team of around forty five clinical colleagues and our shortfall each year is around $4.5 million so we need to fundraise that,” Ching-Tregidga said.
With even more riders this year they’re hoping to raise $100,000 for the charities with the ride happening on October 18.
