Young Waikato farmers have again ditched their gumboots for a pair of boxing gloves as they gear up for the annual Charity Fight Night, this year fundraising for Land Search and Rescue (LandSAR).
For the past six months the brave boxers have been preparing and training at local boxing clubs before being partnered against opposing club members in the region for the big night.
Last year the successful event raised more than $8000 for St Johns Ambulance service and $5500 for Westpac Helicopter the year before. The Young Farmers have set their sights on raising even more this year by aiming to generate as many ticket sales and donations as possible.
As with any Young Farmers Club initiative, the concept of a boxing night was discussed between a couple of members late one evening to have a Young Farmers boxing night. From this basic concept, the idea has grown to be one of the club's biggest events of the year with sell-out venues.
LandSAR is a national volunteer organisation within New Zealand providing land search and rescue services to the police and public of New Zealand.
Their 2500 trained search and rescue volunteers freely contribute their time but need to equip themselves. The cost of fully equipping one trained volunteer member is over $3000.
LandSAR also needs help to assist the national infrastructure, to ensure the volunteers are fully trained to meet assessment standards, and to provide specialist equipment such as GPS tracking systems.
Chairperson of the Cambridge Young Farmers Club Emma Taylor said Fight Night is a fantastic event and one she's proud to be part of.
"It's very popular among the Young Farmers and I hope that this year will be bigger and better than ever. We really need the help of the community behind us so we can smash our target."
Fight Night will be held at Mystery Creek's Bledisloe building on Saturday, July 12. Tickets from eventfinder.co.nz. Inquiries phone Jamie Toon on 021 168 9136.