Strolling with the players along the Royal St George's Golf Club fairways at the Open Championship? Centre court by the royal box at the Wimbledon men's singles tennis final?How about a tour of the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Formula One team's top secret facility at Woking, outside London.
One lucky New Zealand sports fan will be doing all three.
The ultimate sporting prize auction was dreamed up by Animation Research Ltd chief executive Ian Taylor to help the Christchurch earthquake appeal.
"We wondered if there was something we might be able to pull together for them. Something money can't buy. Something that is a truly once-in-a-lifetime experience," Mr Taylor said yesterday.
"These are all things that the average person could only dream of doing. You don't get to walk down the fairway with the players at the Open Championship. You don't get to see inside the McLaren technology centre and seats beside the royal box at Wimbledon are very, very special."
Mr Taylor said he was humbled by the response from the sporting institutions.
McLaren Mercedes noted the relationship between the marque and New Zealand.
"In a young Kiwi named Bruce McLaren, we saw the grit, spirit and determination that enabled him to rise above the odds and challenge the world," McLaren Marketing group brand director John Allert said.
"And we are proud to see those same values in your struggle to overcome this great sadness as you rebuild your families, your lives and your homes."
Mr Taylor said, "They're three of the great sporting brands in the world and when I rang them, it took less than five minutes and they said, 'We're in'."
"The thing I found truly amazing was the genuine desire of the people at these three iconic sporting brands to do something for the people of Christchurch."
The prize is two centre court seats at the All England Tennis Club and the Lawn Tennis Association men's singles final at Wimbledon on July 3 and passes to the members' enclosure; a tour of the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Racing Team's facility at Woking and lunch with McLaren senior racing team management, on July 5; and walking the fairways of the Open Championship as a guest of the Royal and Ancient, at the Royal St George's Golf Club, at Sandwich, Kent, from July 14 to 17.
The week-long auction opens this morning on www.radiosport.co.nz
