Challengers speak!

Katy Bexley

Biggest highlights:
1. Seeing the work of World Vision in action
2. The smiling faces of the kids yelling "hello" at us

Biggest challenges:
1. Visiting the killing fields
2. The hills in the last 15km of the challenge

Pam Scott

Biggest highlights:
1. Meeting Kamsan (her sponsor child) and her family as well as the project visit
2. Completing the cycle challenge - and getting to know everyone in the group

Biggest challenges:
1. Saying good-bye to Kamsan
2. Seeing the killing fields and the S-21 prison and the destruction that the Khmer Rouge caused

Gary Farrelly

Biggest highlights:
1. Finishing the challenge
2. World Vision ADP

Biggest challenges:
1. Trying to out race Gary Senior
2. Waiting to get to the hotel for the toilet instead of squatty potties

Marion Beamish

Biggest highlights:
1. Seeing and interacting with my sponsored child and his family
2. Visiting the project - very impressive
(Many more highlights than challenges)

Biggest challenges:
1. The heat
2. Bottom on bike seat

Craig Haythornthwaite

Biggest highlights:
1. Friendliness of the Cambodian people with children running to meet us as we passed by
2. Seeing how we are making a difference in Koh Andaet

Biggest challenges:
1. Poverty and dilapidation
2. The heat

Barry Williams

Biggest highlights:
1. Children with great spirit
2. The resourcefulness of the Cambodians

Biggest challenges:
1. Convincing friends that World Vision does amazing work and them committing to a child
2. Convincing New Zealanders how blessed they are

Rebecca Sunderland

Biggest highlights:
1. Swimming in the Mekong
2. Connecting with the women in the ADP

Biggest challenges:
1. Rubbish everywhere
2. Clash of cultures

Fiona Whyte

Biggest highlights:
1. Meeting sponsored children and WV communities
2. Sharing this experience with 20 other fantastic people

Biggest challenges:
1. Overcoming gastro and getting back on bike
2. Coming to terms with the amount of need in Cambodia

Victoria Davis

Biggest highlights:
1. Meeting Thanak, my sponsored child, and visiting the World Vision communities
2. Cycling 560km in this heat - never thought I would make it!

Biggest challenges:
1. Cycling the last 104km with very little food due to stomach issues!
2. Feeling so helpless seeing the poverty in the country

Brian Walton

Biggest highlights:
1. Friendliness and lack of agro in the population
2. Ability of group to get along together

Biggest challenges:
1. Heat
2. Appreciating the effort that people are going to improve their lot and appreciating that they need to do it their way

Gary Brent

Biggest highlights:
1. Meeting sponsored child and family
2. How well the group all got on

Biggest challenges:
1. Keeping up with Net and Smey
2. Genocide museum

Moire Cuncannon

Biggest highlights:
1. ADP - seeing the great difference the money we raised will make
2. Having such a great group and making new friends

Biggest challenges:
1. Hills on the last day
2. Coping with the heat

Aleece Forman

Biggest highlights:
1. ADP - visiting the village, giving out bags of rice and meeting the children
2. Completing the cycle challenge with a great team

Biggest challenges:
1. The hills! And the heat.
2. It was so sad seeing the conditions people lived in. Poverty.

David Shaw

Biggest highlights:
1. Visit to World Vision village
2. All the smiling faces of the children and the hellos, good-byes and high fiving

Biggest challenges:
1. Biking 560km
2. Visiting the other side of Cambodia (killing fields/landmines)

"King" Kyle McFarlane

Biggest highlights:
1. Taking photos and video off the back of the truck
2. The feeling at the end of each day's ride

Biggest challenges:
1. Visiting the poorest village in Koh Andaet while 30kg overweight
2. Cycling in the early afternoon on hot bumpy roads

Sheila Elwell

Biggest highlights:
1. Visiting the village with World Vision
2. Everyone singing "Happy Birthday!". Thank you Claire.

Biggest challenges:
1. Staying awake long enough to eat the evening meal
2. Continuous cycling on flat land

Annette Hodge

Biggest highlights:
1. Visit with Sarany (my sponsor child)
2. Being part of a group enjoying a tour, good company, knowing that we can make a difference after the Koh Andaet visit

Biggest challenges:
1. Experiencing the comparisons of people's resilience against poverty etc to how blessed we in NZ are and take so much for granted
2. Coping with saying no to the children selling stuff

Pat Sivertsen

Biggest highlights:
1. Visit to the project - listening to villagers - so passionate about what they wanted for their village
2. Spirit of Cambodians - amazing resilience

Biggest challenges:
1. Riding in the heat. Learnt lots about dealing with it
2. Omelettes for breakfast every morning

Belinda Johnson

Biggest highlights:
1. Children running up to you to say hello with a big smile on their faces
2. The cycling through Cambodia

Biggest challenges:
1. Rubbish lying around everywhere. People just throwing rubbish anywhere
2. The knowledge to know you cannot help every single child. You want to give money to every child.

Richard Johnson

Biggest highlights:
1. Angkor Wat temples
2. Mekong River - amazing
3. Happy children running out to greet us
4. Visiting World Vision project

Biggest challenges:
1. Saying no to beggars
2. Khmer Rouge atrocities
3. Visit to Land Mine Museum
4. Having no burgers for 2 weeks