Pork Pie Charity Run - Team Silky Hogg

By Chris Valli

Blenheim based Beauty Therapist Heidi Silk and builder Roger Hogg will be driving the Marlborough flag in the Kids Can Pork Pie Charity Run starting Friday.

Team ‘Silky Hogg’ will be part of the charity run, a biennial fundraising road trip for all mini owners based loosely on the route taken by the ‘Blondini Gang’ in the original 1981 movie.

“As far as I’m aware we’re the only team from the top of the south doing the Pork Pie charity run this year,” says Heidi. As part of the entry a team must have at least two people in the mini with a driver and a co-driver. Heidi says they will be sharing the driving fairly equally throughout the 5000 km journey. They got involved with the charity run after seeing the run driving south one Easter.

“My daughter Bianca owned a 1979 Leyland Mini 1000. We have just ‘acquired it’ after looking after it for three years and thought, I’d love to borrow the mini from her and do that? It looks like a lot of fun so it took about five or six years to get my act together to enter and two years ago in 2021 we did our first porkpie run,” says Heidi.

“It’s an excuse for a whole load of mad mini owners to thrash their minis up and down the country, dressing up in character and of course raising funds for a really good cause along the way, KidsCan.”

The run is over six days and starts from Paihia, finishing in Invercargill and takes the general route of the Goodbye Pork Pie movie. The run is expected to finish on Wednesday, April 5.

Heidi says they have been humbled by the generosity of the wider Blenheim community before the event has even started.

“We have been bucket shaking on a few occasions even when people don’t have cash. They are very happy to scan the QR code which goes straight to our donation page. On St Patrick’s Day night alone we collected nearly $500 thanks to the generosity of the owners and patrons of Five Tapped, Marlborough Public House and the Grovetown Hotel.”

Heidi says the mini is in great shape and is generously looked after by Geoff and Mark Noad at Automotive Solutions

“The mini looks really spectacular, making it really stand out,” she says. “A great viewing spot to see all the minis will be in Picton coming off the Bluebridge Ferry this Sunday at lunchtime. Our local Marlborough mini group will be joining us for a drive from Picton to the store at Kekerengu,”

Heidi says.

The original Pork Pie Charity Run took place in 2009 with 36 teams making the trip from Kaitaia to Invercargill over five days.

The run has raised funds for

Starship Hospital, Leukaemia & Blood Cancer New Zealand and KidsCan. $320,000 was raised in 2021 while one million dollars