For the first time in its seven-year history, the $10 Queenstown Challenge to Cure Kids has sold out and 35 teams have registered for the three-day Amazing Race-style trek from Auckland to Queenstown next month.
The Cure Kids fundraiser requires each two-person team to raise a minimum of $6000 on top of their entry fee before arriving at the Ibis Budget Hotel at Auckland International Airport on October 3, ready to start the race, which finishes at the Hotel St Moritz on October 6.
The challenge first ran in February 1993, beginning as a fun competition between two Queenstown locals, to see who could make it from Queenstown to Auckland and return with no money or assistance from friends and relatives.
Cure Kids was given the licence for the event in 2005, and since then the charity has raised more than $2 million for medical research into children's life-threatening illnesses.
Over the years the rules have changed slightly, but the game remains the same - the route is kept secret, with various innovative challenges along the way to test the brains, bodies, and creativity of the teams.
The teams in the 2012 event range from parents of a child who lives with a life-threatening illness, to Nothing Trivial stars, corporate participants and members of the public.
Cure Kids chief executive Vicki Lee said she had been "overwhelmed" by the number of people willing to step out of their comfort zone and help raise "vital funds" to invest into medical research.
"Children who live with a life-threatening condition are challenged every day, so we like our events to be challenging, too.
"The challenge will test them both mentally and physically but they will be making a life-saving difference to children who live with a life-threatening illness.
"But is it also about having fun raising funds.
"Competitors finish feeling absolutely rewarded for their efforts knowing it's all for a cure."
While nothing has been given away about the route or challenges for this year's event, participants have been encouraged to learn the words to the platinum-selling single Feel Inside (and stuff like that), written by Flight of the Conchords as part of the 2012 Red Nose Day to Cure Kids fundraising campaign last month.
Teams had also been given their first challenge - Pimp My Ride - with points awarded for the most "unique and embellished vehicle" which will take them from Auckland airport to Hamilton on October 4.
