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TEAM SKYLA

  • 38 in 48 a absolute success!!

      12 April 2019
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    Just a update today on how we went over the weekend.

    Poppa and Cuzzy Kelly absolutely smashed their attempt at 38 Climbs in 48 Hours. Poppa completed it with seconds to spare and Cuzzy Kelly in just under 50 hours. Kelly had only joined us on one climb previous to this weekend so with having no real practice on the Mount and the toll on the body it takes, she absolutely killed it. We cannot thank you enough Kel for jumping on board and helping us raise so much more for RDA!! They were both a bit broken after but have both recovered now.

    Team Skyla set up base camp at the bottom of the stairs. Cols butchery very kindly donated 200 sausages for us to sell on Saturday and More FM another 200 for Sunday - thanks guys!! We had donation tins aswell and we made an extra $1007 which will go directly to RDA!! Alot of the Hatwell family came along to help out at base camp and do support walks with Poppa & Kelly. I truly feel so blessed that we have such a close, supportive family who help out where ever they can. We may be a crazy bunch, but I wouldn't change them for the world. Thanks Rent a Crowd aka The Hatwells, you guys are the best!!

    Alot of friends also came along to support the crazy two, thank you to all of them too for keeping them going and smiling!

    We met alot of people who showed so much interest and support in what we were doing, from locals to tourists. Our community is amazing and I believe we really do live in the best place in the world!

    We all stood out with our Team Skyla tops on, Niki from Digitees gave us an amazing discount on them and we all absolutely love them. So thanks again Niki & Digitees!!

    Jeff & Sarah Gardner from Muffin Break Bayfair generously donated 150 free coffees for the group walk on Sunday and then also 50 drink bottles to give away! Jeff also made sure Kelly didnt sleep in on Sunday and woke her up early and did a heap of walks with her as support. So thanks heaps guys you guys rock!!

    The group climb on Sunday was awesome. Samantha Hayes is beautiful inside and out and it was so great chatting with her about our story and hearing her stories of the great scenes she has seen at her local RDA. She kindly also shared a bit of our story and our givealittle link on her Facebook and Instagram account! A definite highlight for me was seeing some of the kids that participate at RDA make the climb and their smiles at the top.

    Well it's the last day of the challenge today, Daddy is making his big 38th Climb once he finishes work. An amazing achievement for him with his bung knee, work and moving into their brand new house throughout the course of the challenge. I will do another update soon with the final numbers and more pics of the fun we have had along the way.

    As always thank you all for your support, it has been an amazing 50 days and I will be sad to see it all over.

    Much love

    Aunty & TEAM SKYLA xx

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  • 38 in 48.... Here we go!!!

      5 April 2019
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    Oops sorry not sure where the days have gone but the day is here! Poppa and Cuzzy Kelly have started their 38 climbs in 48 hours attempt. TEAM SKYLA is set up at the base of the Mount next to the stairs. We are holding a sausage sizzle tomorrow and Sunday to try and raise as much more for RDA as we can. We've got donation boxes and signs galore. If you are local come down and help us cheer Poppa and Cuzzy Kelly on! Will post another update tomorrow arvo with their progress but 1st climb down for them start time was 4.30pm. Group climb on Sunday with MoreFM and Samantha Hayes

    Kicks off at 9.30am in front of the Surf Club. Jeff and Sarah from Muffin Break Bayfair have kindly donated free coffee vouchers that will be given away. They have also given us some awesome Muffin break drink bottles to give away!

    And updates from the rest of us. Daddy is on climb 26th, 12 to go for him.

    I hit my 38th last Thursday, all completed with Max yay! So up to 42 climbs with Max and 1 with Poppa & Cuzzy on their maiden climb!

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  • Poppa hits 100, Aunty & Daddy are over half way!

      23 March 2019
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    So we are now over halfway through the challenge, 30 days down and 20 to go. We are all still smashing out our climbs. Daddy has reached the way point now hitting 19 yesterday after work. Aunty & Cuzzy hit climb 32 today - I totally cursed myself by posting on Facebook how great the weather has been so I've managed all climbs with Max on my back... weather was pretty yuck today but Max got wrapped up warm and the rain didnt stop our daily climb. And lastly Poppa.. well Poppa is definetly smashing it, he hit the big 100th climb on Friday!! 28 days and 102 climbs by the time he stopped on Friday! He does have pics of every climb but I have totally lost track on getting them into a collage.. I think I will leave that for him!

    So many others hitting big numbers on the Mount too. We are loving the spirit up there, so much encouragement and good vibes. Also all the people we are meeting along the way from locals to people from all over the world. In the last few days I have met a lady who's daughter rode with Skyla at RDA and a nurse who looked after Skyla when she was in Tga Hospital.

    We are still in the planning stages of the big final weekend of the challenge so will post another update soon of what is planned. More Fm is holding a big group walk on the Sunday the 7th April with Samantha Hayes joining in. For those who don't know her she is a TV3 news presenter and last year won Dancing with the Stars and her chosen charity was Riding for the Disabled. So we are planning on making a weekend of it and raising as much more as we can. But will do some confirming and do a update just on what the plan of attack is 😎

    Massive thanks again to all our supporters, $2070 raised in the last 30 days.. you guys rock!! xx

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  • Lunch with RDA

      12 March 2019
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    Hey guys, well today we went out to RDA with lunch. This is something we should have done ages ago before this challenge even started as we wanted to say our little thank you to all the staff and volunteers for all they did for Skyla and all they do for the community. Tears were shed and laughs shared. It was so nice to be able to chat with everyone. They all have so much passion for what they do and those that they help. We got to see Skylas horse Isaac and give him a big pat and cuddle from her. These guys truely are such an amazing organisation and for the next 31 days left of this challenge we will give it our all to raise as much as we can for them!

    Our tallies at the moment are I (Aunty) hit the halfway mark on Sunday just been. So after this mornings climb I am on #21. Jamie (Daddy) is on climb #15 - they have just been through settlement on their brand new home so he has been flat out between work and getting paperwork in line, but fear not he will be back on the mountain soon! And Keith (Poppa) well who knows what he's on.. I think #61 as of this morning? He is so hard to keep track of and it's only going to get harder, he is aiming for around the 200 mark by the end of the challenge!! EDIT: Poppa is on #70!! See what I mean about losing track?!?! But will get photo collages up to date and posted very soon so you can all see our journey so far.

    As always thank you for following us, donating and supporting TEAM SKYLA, we appreciate it more than you will ever know xx

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  • Day 11... Shout out to our Supporters!

      4 March 2019
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    Well what a beautiful weekend we have just had, Team Skyla got more climbs in the bag.

    Poppa is becoming a bit of a icon on the Mount, people are even getting selfies with him! He has slowed down since his marathon effort to about 4 a day now so he is up to 46 climbs or #8 of round 2 as he says. Daddy is at 10 climbs and just about to do another one now. I (Aunty) just finished climb 12 this morning. So that's where we are at.

    But back to you guys, a massive shout out to you all for your donations and support. We are currently at $1320 raised from 20 generous donors! And there is still 39 days of the challenge left! You all are legends and we couldnt be doing this without your support!

    Also a big shout out to Niki from Digitees, not only did she do a great deal for us but her and the team have donated aswell. We love our tops she made and we are definetly standing out on the Mount and spreading the word. Digitees you rock!!

    To all that are following us on here and facebook and see us up there and give us your kind words and support, thank you too! We are meeting so many awesome people each trip and from locals to people from all over the world. We really do live in a beautiful place with a awesome community!

    Also a shout out to our Family, they are getting behind us and walking up there with us, spamming Facebook as much as we do to raise more awareness and being so supportive of the time we are spending away from home or on our phones doing all we can. Thank you and love you all xx

    Oh and before I forget, Poppa got set a new challenge on Saturday. A awesome group had their own challenge running with cans of food donated from countdown, and there goal was to get everyone to take a tin up to the top and back down and it got donated to the Salvation army for those in need. Well seeing I carry Max up each trip I thought Poppa should feel the weight so I challenged him to carry 25 tins in a back pack mwaahaha... well he smashed it! So Poppa needs some more challenges set if anyone else has one, throw it his way.

    Anyway that's enough from me but thanks again words really can't describe how grateful we are for all the love and support xx

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  • Day 6.. Poppa has done it!!!

      27 February 2019
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    Poppa has done it!! 38 Climbs in 6 days. Absolutely legendary effort on his behalf and we are so proud of him! Fear not though, that was just the start for Poppa, he is still going to smash out as many climbs as he can in the remaining 44 days to go. Daddy is sitting on 8/38 climbs & Aunty and Cuzzy are on 7/38. Loving all the people we are meeting along the way & seeing all the others competing in the challenge up there too, so much love and support in our beautiful community. We are so blown away by how much we have raised so far and we thank you all from the bottom of our hearts!! xx

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  • Day Five.. Poppa is almost there!!

      26 February 2019
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    Wow, so just a quick update but Poppa has smashed this challenge out of the ball park and has just reached his 36th climb tonight at just after 9pm. That's a total of 10 climbs he has done today - 4 before work and a massive 6 after. So tomorrow morning is the day he will reach the challenge of 38 climbs in 50 days or well 38 in 6 days for him. So our plan is Poppa will be at the Mount at 6am and do his 37th and Daddy and Aunty (and co-pilot Max) will join him and celebrate the big 38 with him at 7am, Will post all the photos in the gallery tomorrow. So proud of you Poppa, you truly are Superman!!

    Much love and thanks as always TEAM SKYLA xx

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  • Day Four Update

      25 February 2019
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    Hey guys, first of all a massive thanks for all the donations, love and support we have received so far! We are currently at $810 raised and sitting #2 of most raised out of 157 teams or individuals currently registered!!

    Well what a awesome weekend it has been. We started the challenge with the Group climb at 5.30pm on Friday 22nd February. It was so good to see so many people getting behind and supporting such a great cause, the weather was pretty iffy with showers, but it didn't damper anyone's spirit. We smashed out more climbs over the weekend, have met a lot of amazing people on each trip and have received so many words of encouragement.

    Our totals as of this morning (Monday 25/2/2019) Are Aunty 5/38 (so far so good with my little co-pilot - lets hope I can smash out all 38 with him!), Daddy is on 4/38 (has got a new knee brace today, so fingers crossed it eases the pain he gets from the knee), and Poppa aka Superman has smashed out 23/38!! This man is on a mission and we are so proud of him. I can't even imagine what his total count will be by the time the 50 days are up!

    As Poppa said last night our goals for this is 1. Of course complete all 38 climbs each. 2. Having the most climbs on board. 3. Last but most importantly is to raise the most amount of funds as a lasting legacy to Skyla! So bring on the next 46 days!

    Pop on over to our gallery to see some collages of our climbs so far. I promise to keep you up to date along the challenge. Massive thanks again and please remember to keep on sharing the TEAM SKYLA page, as we are "Doing it for Skyla" xx

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  • 8 Days to go! So who are we?

      14 February 2019
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    Hey Guys, thanks for all the love, support and donations we have received so far, it is really appreciated!!

    Just thought I would do a little update of who TEAM SKYLA is for those who don't know us personally.

    Daddy is Jamie Hatwell, he works Fulltime at the port driving top lifters so you will see him completing the challenge mainly at nights after his 12 hour shifts at work end. His wife Catherine (Skyla's step Mum), their son Reid and bubba on the way will be his number 1 cheer squad throughout the challenge.

    Poppa is Keith Hatwell, he also works fulltime at the port. His days are spent behind the desk in the steel operations on the Mount side. He reckons he will smash out this challenge well before us (think he still thinks he is 21) but good challenge Poppa, we will see! You will see him up there in the early evenings and weekends.

    Aunty is Stacey Carey (nee Hatwell) - me! I'm a stay at home mum and do the office work for my husbands Painting & Decorating business. We have an 18 month old son. Sometimes Max will join me for the challenge on my back. The little monkey is getting heavy so I can't promise I will do all of the challenge carrying him. You will see us up there as early as possible to beat the heat!

    So that is us, we have all fairly recently got onto a bit of a health kick so we are looking forward to challenging ourselves further in this challenge.

    As we said on the main post Tauranga Riding for the Disabled holds a very special place in our heart, on top of the amazing work they did with Skyla they also allowed us to have her funeral service there so we could give Skyla the send off she would have loved!

    So thanks again guys, we promise to keep you updated throughout the challenge. Keep sharing and spreading TEAM SKYLA, and lets raise as much as we can for Tauranga Riding for the Disabled!!

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