Press Release – Accor Hotels and Resorts

For the first time in its seven-year history, the Accor Hotels $10 Queenstown Challenge to Cure Kids has sold out, with a record number of competitors due to take part in the fundraising event next month.24 September, 2012

Accor Hotels $10 Queenstown Challenge to Cure Kids an unprecedented sell-out

For the first time in its seven-year history, the Accor Hotels $10 Queenstown Challenge to Cure Kids has sold out, with a record number of competitors due to take part in the fundraising event next month.

An unprecedented 35 teams have registered for the three-day Amazing Race-style trek from Auckland to Queenstown. A major fundraiser for Cure Kids, to take part each two-person team has to raise a minimum of $6,000 on top of their entry fee.

They will then converge at the Ibis Budget Hotel at Auckland Airport on October 3 before embarking on a life-changing three days of fun challenges that finish at Hotel St Moritz in Queenstown on October 6.

The teams range from parents of a child who lives with a life-threatening illness through to Cure Kids’ key partner corporate participants, to Nothing Trivial stars and members of the public who have joined up with friends or family to compete. Many are competing for a second time.

“We have been overwhelmed by the number of people who are willing to step out of their comfort zone to help us raise vital funds to invest into medical research,” says Cure Kids CEO Vicki Lee.

“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.”

Cure Kids’ key partner Accor Hotels is sponsoring the event again this year, as part of its commitment to sustainability and corporate social responsibility.

“Cure Kids sits at the heart of the internal culture at Accor Hotels across New Zealand and has huge support and passion from our employees,” says Lucy Acott, Accor director of marketing, New Zealand and Fiji.

“Giving back to the local community in which our hotels operate is a key element of Accor’s belief in and commitment to sustainability and we’re extremely proud to have been title sponsor since the Challenge began seven years ago, drawing much inspiration from this wonderful organisation, the families that touch our lives and the sheer dedication of the participants,both in their fundraising efforts, and all the challenges they face over the three days.”

Maintaining the element of surprise, the route and challenges have been kept a closely-guarded secret, however participants have been encouraged to learn the platinum-selling single “Feel Inside (and stuff like that)” that was written by Flight of the Conchords as part of the Red Nose Day to Cure Kids fundraising campaign in August.

And teams have been given their first challenge – “Pimp My Ride” – with points awarded for the most unique and embellished vehicle that will get them from the Ibis Budget Hotel at Auckland Airport on October 4 to their next challenge in Hamilton.

The Accor Hotels $10 Queenstown Challenge to Cure Kids will create quite a spectacle – with clowns, Smurfs, Jaffas and M&Ms, princesses and even superheroes all looking for encouragement and a lift from one challenge to the next.

For up-to-the-minute updates on where they are on the Challenge, go to http://www.curekids.org.nz/events/10-queenstown-challenge/

About the Accor Hotels $10 Queenstown Challenge to Cure Kids

The challenge first ran in February 1993, beginning as a fun competition between two Queenstown locals to see who could make a return trip from Queenstown to Auckland with no money or assistance from friends and relatives.

Cure Kids was gifted the license for this event in 2005, and since then we have raised over $2,000,000 for vital 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 topsecret, with various innovative challenges along the way to test the brains, bodies, and creativity of the teams.

About Cure Kids

Cure Kids invests in medical research into a wide range of children’s life-threatening illnesses, and has had world-first breakthroughs and continues to fund research into stillbirth, childhood leukaemia, heart disease, genetic conditions and asthma among others.

It has invested more than $29m into research and aims to direct 100% of the funds raised by the public in any one year into child health research.

Approximately one child in 30 in New Zealand, roughly one in every classroom, lives with a life-threatening illness. CureKids invests in research to find ways to improve their quality of life and prolong their life whilst searching for cures.

About Accor Hotels

Accor is the largest hotel group in New Zealand with 34 hotels across a broad portfolio of brands ranging from the luxury of Sofitel through Ibis, Ibis Styles and Ibis Budget and includes the Pullman, MGallery, Grand Mercure, Novotel, and Mercure brands. The recent addition of Quay West Suites Auckland and Sebel Suites Auckland has further enhanced Accor’s position.

Cure Kids has been Accor’s chosen charity since 2003. In that time Accor has raised more than $3million for Cure Kids, sponsoring and competing in events as well as holding its own competitions.

In addition to being title sponsor of this event, Accor is providing accommodation through the journey and has two teams competing.

ENDS

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