As a team, Huntly running group Team Little Big Bots completed a 200km relay over 20 hours wearing gumboots yesterday as part of the Gumboot Friday run.
They’re on a mission to raise money for Huntly's Friendship House in support of their incredible work in the community, helped by their coach Ants Pitman.
“Our kids work, and they work hard,” Pitman told Seven Sharp.
Daughters six-year-old Daelyn and eight-year-old Vienna said their dad had been “very, very good” to their team.
It started in 2019 out of Pitman’s love for his son.
“Hearing some of the stuff other kids would say still hurts. So, his mum said, put some shoes on him and see how far he gets,” Pitman said.
“Now I see a confident kid.”
Pitman ended up changing the lives of many around him, as more and more kids joined in and started running too. Before he knew it, he had a big family of youngsters.
Eleven-year-old Sarah Lee said: “It’s like he adopts us as his own child and he provides us with food and blankets and shelter we need.”
Alexis, 14, said she used to be in a “hard situation”.
“This was the only team that could help me get out of that situation,” she said.
Jacob, 12, said being in the team meant the world to him and kept him out of trouble.
For their run, the team drew inspiration from Pitman’s former cellmate in Rangipo Prison, Paora Raharaha.
Earlier this year, Raharaha ran the Tarawera Ultramarathon in gumboots to raise money for the community and for uniforms for Team Little Big Bots.
Now, Team Little Big Bots is paying it forward to support Huntly's Friendship House, which provides classes, clubs, internet access and a community pantry.
SHARE ME