Ryan Toki, Breffni O'Reilly,William Peterson and Adam Barclay gear up for their charity ride to Wellington to raise money for Starship hospital. Photo / Supplied.
Ryan Toki, Breffni O'Reilly,William Peterson and Adam Barclay gear up for their charity ride to Wellington to raise money for Starship hospital. Photo / Supplied.
If you see a rag-tag bunch of Lions rugby fans cruising through your town on pimped out motor scooters flick them a gold coin or two. It's all for a good cause.
Irishman Breffni O'Reilly and his band of merry mates are scooting from Auckland to Wellington starting on Sunday (June 25) to raise money for Starship hospital.
O'Reilly, who has been organising the roadtrip for almost a year has recruited Englishmen Gary Speak and Chris Garfitt, Scot Adam Barclay, South African support vehicle driver Neil Oliver and Kiwis Ryan Toki, George McMahon and William Peterson on the charity ride.
The lads will dress up in their home country club rugby colours and follow the British and Irish Lions the day after their first test against the All Blacks in Auckland on Saturday.
It will take them three days to get from Eden Park to the Cake Tin in Wellington, just in time for the Hurricanes versus Lions game at Westpac Stadium on Tuesday.
O'Reilly said the average speed of 40km/h will make the 850km journey slow going but he hopes people will give generously along the way.
"A lot of the scooters probably won't make it to Wellington. Scooter engines usually only run for an hour at a time, so there's going to be a lot of stops and breaks because it's not common to ride a scooter for eight hours a day."
First break will be in Hamilton to pick up a lion teddy bear offered up by a young girl for the charity auction at the end of the roadie.
The group will stay the night in Taupo and second night in Palmerston North, using only back roads to get to each destination.
In Wellington, where the second test is set to take place, the group hope to get O'Reilly's wrung-out 49cc scooter signed by Lions players and ready for the auction.
O'Reilly said they want to raise at least $2000 from the auction and any money donated during the trip, which will be given to the Starship Foundation.
Sisters Lola, 10 and Hanna Matthews, 8. Hanna's premature start to life has inspired her uncle to ride a scooter from Auckland to Wellington to raise money for Starship hospital. Photo / Supplied.
The 29-year-old does not have any children, yet, but said the fact his niece's life was saved at the Our Lady's Children's Hospital in Dublin is what drives him to support Starship.
Eight-year-old Hanna was born three months premature and spent the first six months of her life in hospital.
"Hanna is alive and fine right now. She's flying but the first six months were very much touch and go. She would not be where she is today if it were not for the children's hospital in Dublin.
"So when we're raising money the first thing that pops to mind is Starship who do the exact same thing here."
O'Reilly, a general manager of a safety company, immigrated to New Zealand six years ago and hails from Virginia in County Cavan.
He and the crew, who have even undertaken a safety plan for the trip, have already done a few reconnaissance missions to test out the scooter's durability.
Complete with its own rugby jersey, the scooter has already been to Whangarei for the Lions' first game against the Barbarians, to Eden Park for the game against the Blues and it was also at Waitangi for the official welcome.
"I've followed the British and Irish Lions around Australia and the experience was second-to-none so we've decided to coincide this with the Lions tour."
