Good folks go for a Saturday scooter ride - to Wellington

About 150 Jolly Good Chaps scooter challenge riders under starter's orders in Napier from Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst. Photo / Warren Buckland

An intrepid motor scooter ride to Wellington - postponed because of the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle - has finally made it to the capital in a fundraising push to support cyclone recovery.

The Grand Annual Jolly Good Chaps 50cc Scooter Challenge was to have been held on March 4, just under three weeks after the February 13-14 devastation in Hawke’s Bay and took place on Saturday.

Almost 150 riders braved the wet conditions at the start in Ahuriri, with a collective target of over $150,000 in fundraising to support the cyclone recovery and mental wellbeing awareness project I am Hope.

Dressed for the occasion - riders hit the road for the 320km-plus ride through Hawke's Bay and Wairarapa and over the Remutaka Hill. Photo / Warren Buckland

More than $140,000 had been registered on the ride’s Givealittle page as riders set-off for an expected 7-10 hours ride of over 320km, via State Highway 2 through Wairarapa and over the Remutaka Hill to a waterfront bar in Wellington.

Organisers and orders were buoyed by the success of the first ride last year, when more than $78,000 was raised for charity, by the ride’s Jolly Good Chaps Charitable Trust.

Its success was also highlighted by a threefold increase in the number of riders, from the 53 who took part in 2022, and some were reported to have ridden back to Napier during the rest of the weekend on their machines, varying from the standard put-put to especially modified prides and joys.