Second for Cisco in kids charity race

Cisco's ExerCISCOcisers team have taken second place overall in the Great Adventure Race to Cure Kids – narrowly beaten out of top spot by the Fonterra Flyers.

Cisco's team of Kris Boyd, Madisson Boyd, Gene Clendon and John-Paul Sikking, took out the annual Great Adventure Race to Cure Kids IT Cup, beating out last year's IT Cup winners, Team Theta, who came in third overall.

The tech sector put on a solid showing accounting for seven of the 27 teams racing in this year's North Island event, held around Kawakawa.

The event sees teams of four trekking, running, mountain biking and traversing waterways for around 40km.

Jennifer Rutherford, who spearheaded the charge to get tech teams involved in the race, says the industry teams raised $58,000 for the cause.

Overall, $311,000 was raised for Cure Kids through this year's event. The top three overall teams were separated by less than 30 minutes, with Fonterra coming in in 7 hours, 13 minutes; ExerCISCOcisers, 7:25; and Team Theta, 7.39.

Microsoft was the third IT team home, taking seventh place overall, with Simpl Beanz in twelfth and Provoke Wellington, seventeenth.

Provoke Auckland and Pitney Bowes also completed the grueling team event, but were unranked due to finishing with less than four team members, or missing transition area cut-off times.

With the race barely one month over, Rutherford is already eyeing up next year's event.

“I put the challenge out to those who didn't make it this year but were keen – Westcon, HP, Express Data, IBM – to get organised now to be part of this fabulous event next year,” she says.