His employer, PR Law, was the major sponsor of the relay, Mr Davis said.
During a meeting to discuss the promotion of the relay, it was suggested someone could enter as an individual.
‘‘I wasn’t strong enough to say no, clearly.
‘‘I have been known to do stupid things in the past of an exercise type thing, so I thought this was just another, something challenging, something different.’’
It was a very worthwhile cause. ‘‘If me walking around in a circle for 12 hours or thereabouts gets attention to this thing and makes more money, well then that’s the aim, basically.’’
Mr Davis had taken part in the relay before. He was also fit and took part in different kinds of exercise daily including walking about 30km a week.
‘‘Exercise makes me feel better, mentally and physically.’’
It was not so much about the distance he would walk but the time spent on his feet that would make the 12 hours challenging.
‘‘It’s not like we’re walking up Everest, to be fair.’’
However, in his younger days he had been part of the Army Reserve Force, formerly known as the Territorial Force, so he knew what it was like to take a long walk.
Invercargill man Leon Hartnett said when he saw Mr Davis was taking part in the relay as an individual he was inspired to do the same.
‘‘That really appealed to me and I am a slightly competitive person.’’
He initially thought he would be able to run some of the laps and set himself a goal of the number he hoped to achieve
Then he realised the track would be crowded so he lowered his expectations of how many he would do.
‘‘I’ll make certain I do 200 laps, which is kind of a brisk walk.’’
Mr Hartnett enjoyed taking part in backyard ultra runs each year so was used to being on the go for eight to nine hours.
He was also motivated to take part after a close friend died of cancer last year.
‘‘You want to do something to raise some funds to make a difference.’’
