Held on March 29th on a cold day in Otautahi, Christchurch sales team Sophie and Jason headed towards Ranui House to participate in the “Embrace the Cold: Ice Bath Challenge”. Established by 2-time cancer survivor, Josh Komen, the event involved 40 participants taking the plunge into 2–3-degree water for two minutes, to raise funds for the development of Ranui’s 46 new apartments.

Having recently celebrated its 30th anniversary, Ranui House is a local charity that provides accommodation to patients undergoing bone marrow cancer treatment at the local Christchurch hospital. Ranui House translates to mean “big warm house” in Te Reo, Ranui succeeds in providing multiple New Zealand families with a home-away-home during their time of recovery.

Given our extensive promotion of the organisation over the last year across our Canterbury digital network, the team leapt at the chance to show their support for the initiative.

Arriving at the Cambridge Terrace site at 6pm, the participants got to meet with Josh and the team, who ran through the structure and impact of the event (and let it be known, there was scarcely a dry eye left in the house following Josh’s speech). Being an experienced ice-bather himself, as well as a qualified oxygen advantage breathing instructor, Josh lead a brief breathing exercise with the group to prepare them for the plunge, before the volunteers each split off to get into their swim gear.

Armed with 2 weeks preparation of cold showers, Jase and Soph were assigned to the first group of ice-bathers, entering the water at the same time as Josh, who was attempting to set the unofficial record of over 20 minutes (spoiler alert: he reached 21!). While Jason opted for the stoic, silent strategy, Sophie opted for the more colourful coping mechanism of violent swearing, which proved equally effective.

Exiting the pool at the 2-minute mark, the team was quickly shepherded to the facility’s “warm-up” station, where they were given cozy robes, hot soup, and a full dinner donated by Alliance Group, and catered by Chef Darren Wright. Gathered altogether around the dining table, fellow sponsors, participants, staff members and supporters got to share their unique experiences of the event, as well as their connection to the cause itself.

With an overall fundraising goal of $40,000, thanks to the event’s broadcast on TVNZ’s Seven Sharp, the challenge garnered a total of $90,556 in donations, reaching over double their projected figure.

Overall, one could say the event served as a cool “ice-breaker” to raise awareness for this amazing organization.