HomeAfter her course, Anna Erwood set a goal of raising $500 to contribute to another students OB course fee. She signed up for our OB Champions programme and decided to tackle the Orewa Beach Half Marathon as her challenge.
How did you get to Outward Bound?
I was lucky enough to receive an Outward Bound scholarship and found out I was going a week before I was due to go. My parents had pushed me to do it as they had both done it when they were my age. I was unsure of what I was doing with my life after I finished school and what direction I was going in.
How has your OB experience impacted your life?
My experience has made me value more things in my life such as my family and people around me. It has made me become a more confident person and taught me that I can do a lot of things if I put my mind to it
What was your favourite part of the course?
My favourite part of the course would be spending time and getting to know/work with the people in my watch. Some of them are now very good friends and we often talk about our time in Anakiwa. It was great to meet different people from many walks of life and to be able to utilise different people's skills on the various activities.
Anna with her Hillary 599 watchmates. Anna is on the far right.
My advice for current champions would be to talk to your friends and family about your goal and ask them to spread the word of what you are doing
Why did you choose to do the Champions programme?
I chose to do the champions programme as I had been thinking about doing a half marathon for a while and thought about how I could do it to raise money for a cause that was close to me.
What was the hardest part of fundraising?
I think that the hardest part of fundraising was getting exposure for my cause. Apart from social media I wasn't really able to speak verbally to many people about it due to a busy work/life schedule and moving cities meant I didn't have the network of people like I did in Christchurch. Therefore I tried to post as many updates on Facebook and Instagram etc. As I possibly could. I also tried to update my supporters on my progress which some of them said was really great to see and they could see how far I had come since I had started training.
Do you have any advice for current Champions?
My advice for current champions would be to talk to your friends and family about your goal and ask them to spread the word of what you are doing.
Would you do anything differently?
If I could do it again I would try to post more updates on the Champions page about my progress. I would also maybe set a higher goal as I Think it would help to motivate me more to reach it!
Anna smashing through the Orewa Beach Half Marathon.
I wanted to raise money for a cause that was close to me
