Super-human effort for hospice - June 2015

Wanganui High School students braved the wind and rain for a super-hero-themed fun run to raise funds for Hospice Wanganui yesterday.

Former WHS teachers Vanda Butters and Elizabeth McKnight were cared for by Hospice and their husbands Greg Butters and Ian McKnight were at the school to start the heats of the obstacle races.

The event was organised by senior sport prefects Samantha Murphy and Tim Rowe and the event went ahead despite the bad weather.

A diverse range of characters from Smurfs to Jedi to Incredible Hulks made their way around an obstacle course, including crawling through mud and getting blasted with a hose by Batman.

Some heroes were represented in duplicate such as the half-dozen Captain Underpants clones who went bravely forth in matching briefs.

"My dad went out and bought them for us half an hour ago," said one captain as he launched into action.

Senior sport co-ordinator Diane Howard, decked out as the tooth fairy, said the decision was made to cancel the event after lunch because the weather looked bad.

"The students made the decision to go ahead because they were all ready with their costumes on and they wanted to go ahead with it."

Mrs Howard said students contributed a gold coin for their participation, and a cheque for the final amount would be presented to Hospice next week.