Youngsters’ longest day a sweet one

Caption: George Currie and Thomas Clayson who played four rounds of golf in one day at the not-so-flat Balmacewen course in Dunedin to raise funds for cancer.

By Neville Idour

An inspirational cancer fundraiser story in the latter part of last month featured two 12-year-olds George Currie and Thomas Clayton.

They played 72 holes in the one day at the Otago Golf Club at Balmacewen for what was known as the Longest Day fundraiser for cancer.

This was a not an inconsiderable feat. Anyone who knows the Balmacewen course and has walked it knows it is one of hardest walks in New Zealand despite its quality of topography and design.

George Currie's mother Abby said one of the boys had a step counter which registered they walked 39 kilometres even though mum allowed them to ride in her golf cart for part of the final of four rounds.

The walk up hole number 18 is a stretch once, let alone four times. It was indeed the longest day, in fact may have been just that for anyone playing the fundraiser. The boys teed off at 6.15am and finished at 8.30pm. That’s more than 14 hours. Whew.

So to ensure they didn’t run out of steam their parents gave them license to fuel themselves on a variety of sweet treats.

George elaborates: “Mum packed some different flavoured Oreos (biscuits) which we nibbled on during the first round. A bag of lollies and Picnic (chocolate) bars kept our energy levels up in the other rounds.”

It was just what was needed to sustain their stamina.

George’s home is Dunedin while Thomas Clayton lives in Geraldine. Both are schooled at Waihi Boarding School near Winchester which is just north of Timaru. They both picked up golf there when the teachers would take them to Denfield Golf Club for a hit which they took to like a duck to water.

So now the lads play as often as they can as well as read golf magazines, check out golf websites and watch golf on television looking for advice to improve their games. George is a member of the Dunedin Junior Golf Club and has a 17.1 handicap while Thomas has a 12.1 handicap.

When it came to the cancer fundraiser they were both keen to give it a go and raise funds, in part because their mothers both work in a hospital and do community work assisting people with cancer.

Thomas said: “This is our way to raise funds and help people get better so they can have a better life.”

Their longest day challenge was a huge success and raised about $1733 which took the grand total at that point nationally to $703,997. Their wonderful effort was recognised with a nice front page piece by John Lewis and a photo in the Otago Daily Times newspaper.