Sitting in a freezing pool isn’t much fun during a New Zealand winter, but a bunch of us at Icebreaker head office decided to make the sacrifice for a great cause.
The Heart Stoppers Challenge is an event run by Heart Children New Zealand for the 450 kids each year who have open-heart surgery. During surgery, children are cooled down in icy slush to lower their heart rate.
In addition, we had an Icebreaker connection with the charity. Our colleague Jason Brown’s son, Adam, is a heart child. He had his nine-hour heart surgery at the age of six months, and spent a week at Starship Hospital in Auckland.
The challenge involves a team of four to six people getting together, choosing a dress theme (the crazier the better), and plunging into an icy pool for five minutes. I convinced five colleagues to join me in this event: Jason, Grant Manson, Hamish Allan, Sarany Pan and Jacob Horan. Thoughts on costumes were coming out left right and centre, but the final verdict was “Nature and Beast”.
The day arrived – Friday, May 22 – and we were all hyped up and excited, ready for the plunge at 11.42am. The weather forecast for the day was 7°C, occasional showers, a risk of hail and a strong southerly…ouch!
The event started with a memorial service and a release for balloons featuring the names of children who hadn’t made it through surgery. It was an emotional moment.
Then we plunged into the 5°C spa pool. Ever had the feeling of your heart beating a thousand miles per hour, with the feeling of needles everywhere through your body? A little extra body fat helps, but Jase was short of body fat so he really felt the pain. While we were sitting in the pool cursing, our colleagues surrounded us, cheering, taking photos and handing us beer.
After our five minutes were up, we were allowed a nice soak in a 39°C spa. By that stage, do you think we could even feel it? No!
As well as raising over $1,000 in donations, we won the best dressed prize out of 17 teams. A big thanks to all those who made a donation and supported us on the day. It was a great cause and I’ll definitely be doing it again next year – and trying to reel in more participants.
- Chantelle Matenga, International Logistics Coordinator
