Magic pants fire up Anakiwa fundraiser

Anna McNuff gets her run on with students from Parua Bay School. Photo / Michael Cunningham

When Anna McNuff doesn't feel like running she puts on her magic pants.

The native Londoner needs more motivation than most. She is running the length of New Zealand to not only push herself to the limit but to raise money for outdoor education organisation Outward Bound.

"I think it's humanly impossible to be sad when I put these pants on," Ms McNuff told senior pupils at Parua Bay School yesterday. She started at Bluff on January 12 and expects to reach Cape Reinga on June 28, only about 3200km later. While she runs about 32km each day, her biggest day was 45km.

The rainbow-coloured pants are hard to miss - a unicorn ordains one leg and a robot dinosaur the other.

"I actually just googled amazing leggings and they came up," Ms McNuff said. She bought them when she was back in London, thinking they would help her get out of bed at 4.30am each morning to train.

While Ms McNuff briefly visited Wellington a decade ago, exploring more of the country had been on her bucket list ever since. When looking for a new adventure after cycling all 50 states of the US in 2013, she found the famous Te Araroa trail, which stretches the length of our country.

"I thought why don't I raise some money for people to have outdoor adventures of their own," Ms McNuff said. The natural choice was Outward Bound Trust of New Zealand, she said.

Outward Bound, located in Anakiwa in the Marlborough Sounds, puts more than 1800 students through its courses each year. Using the mountains, bush and waterways of Anakiwa as its classrooms, Outward Bound's courses aim to help them reach their potential through challenges in the outdoors.

She has raised about $6000 through her Givealittle page.

Ms McNuff visited Parua Bay School after a parent learnt about her journey on the website where she shares her adventures. Along the way she has visited 30 schools and spoken to about 5000 students encouraging them to be active and seek out adventures, even if they are "crazy" like hers. "At the start of this I didn't know if I could do it but I just started anyway," she said. "It's been the hardest thing I've ever done in my life."

-See annamcnuff.com/run-with-me/