Brian Johnson spoke to the Chronicle as he was about to leave Blenheim at 1pm on Sunday. "We had a great crossing on the Interislander and we are travelling with a great crowd.
"One driver from Palmerston North had an oil leak and he took a detour to fix it but still managed to make Wellington in time to catch the ferry."
Mr Johnson said race organisers had sent an email last night to say that fundraising had reached $179,000. "We are planning to reach Christchurch tonight," he said.
The charity run left Kaitaia on Friday and Mr Johnson said they had been "very lucky" with weather conditions.
"Slips had been cleared from the road by the time we left and apart from some heavy rain at Te Awamutu and a bit of wet weather at National Park, we have had a dry run all the way down."
Mr Johnson said one Mini team has pulled out for family reasons but the other 59 are set to continue their journey.