Challengers step up to conquer Gisborne’s ‘Everest’

More than 850 people have registered for the popular seven-week Titirangi Mt Everest Challenge so far, and three of them have reached the summit 68 times in just the first week.

The Titirangi Mount Everest Challenge has been going for just over a week and some people have conquered the maunga already.

Sponsored by Sean Shivnan Pharmacy, the seven-week event involves climbing the city maunga 68 times, the equivalent of reaching the top of Mt Everest.

It started at dawn last Monday morning with a karakia.

“It’s off to a fantastic start,” Debbie Hutchings from Whiti Ora Tairāwhiti said on the Larsawn Gisborne sports show on NewstalkZB on Saturday morning.

“We’ve had three people complete the 68 climbs in just a week, which is amazing.”

As of yesterday (Monday), more than 850 people had registered for the climb, including 112 teams.

Two participants had racked up 70 climbs and a third had done 68.

The top team had registered a total of 312 climbs - nearly 40,600m between them.

The challenge supports bowel cancer sufferers in the region, with all the money raised locally to be spent locally.

“It has started this well before and that illustrates the ongoing popularity of the climb,” Hutchings said.

“People can still register for it at any stage over the next six weeks. They can do that by going to the Whiti Ora Tairāwhiti website.”