By RUSSELL BENNETT
A BRAND new Berwick business is putting the ‘fun’ back in fund-raising with a charity climb-athon to raise money for Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital.
The event, which will take place on Good Friday, is a 12-hour team relay climb where one or two members of each team of four are required to be climbing in the Clip ‘n Climb Berwick arena during the relay period, which will run from 8am to 8pm.
The entry fee is $18.50 per team member, with the entire amount then donated to the Good Friday Appeal.
The main aim of the event is to raise funds for the appeal, via donations and sponsorship (pledges from friends, family, workmates and associates). In addition to that, the four main climb-athon objectives are: to have fun and enjoy the Clip ‘n Climb arena; to keep climbing for the entire 12 hours with at least one team member clubbing at any time; to follow the ‘Ten Climb-athon Commandments’ to avoid disqualification; and to achieve a target of combined total height climbed in mountains, for example Mt Kosciuszko (2230 metres above sea level) or Mt Kilimanjaro (5900 metres).
Climbing progress will be recorded on a tally board that will show the total vertical metres climbed by each team and which mountaintops each team has ‘reached’, from Mt Dandenong to Mt Everest.
Clip ‘n Climb Berwick is an exciting and innovative new indoor adventure centre that opened at the start of this month. It’s a vibrant fusion of climbing walls and theme parks, and has three massive attractions: a giant Clip ‘n Climb arena, a multilevel SkyTrail elevated obstacle course, and a Cheeky Monkey Climb adventure play zone.
“One of the reasons we set up the centre is that we’re parents ourselves, and this is a really exciting form of exercise that will drag kids away from their screens,” said Clip ‘n Climb owners Adrian and Leanne Dolling.
“The Good Friday Appeal is an ideal fit for us because we want a healthy and happy life for our children.
“The Royal Children’s Hospital does more than any other facility to promote healthy children or their return to health.”
Mr Dolling said they hoped to make the climb-athon an annual event in the future.
“We’ve only been open for three weeks and we’re not that well-known in the community yet,” he said.
“We’ve built this up through word of mouth but it’ll be bigger and better next year.”
Each of the centre’s three main attractions was created with one of Adrian and Leanne’s three children – Kiara, Coen and Regan – in mind. Their middle child Coen spent four weeks in the Monash Hospital with his own health concerns, so they know full well the importance of all the work done at the Royal Children’s Hospital. Leanne is also a trained nurse.
For more information or get involved with the climb-athon, visit www.clipnclimbBerwick.com.au, email info@clipnclimbBerwick.com.au, or call 9796 2488. Clip ‘n Climb is at 39-51 Intrepid Street, Berwick.
