25 June 2014

It’s not often a holiday combines walking, horse riding or mountain biking through some of New Zealand’s most beautiful countryside with raising funds for important medical research, but that’s exactly what the week long Great New Zealand Trek offers to walkers, mountain bikers and horse riders.

The Trek began in 2006 at Cape Reinga and is working its way down the country each year, with the goal of finishing in Bluff in 2020.

Since 2009, funds from The Great New Zealand Trek Charitable Trust have supported our MS research. This year’s Trek, held in March, started at Wairau Valley at the top of the South Island and continued the journey south to Clarence, and raised an incredible $33,000, bringing the total support from the Trek to over $173,000!

“Funds from The Great New Zealand Trek have been vital in allowing us to investigate and test new ideas, while also supporting the development of emerging MS researchers,” says Dr La Flamme. “We are incredibly grateful for their support.”

Since 2009, funds from the Great New Zealand Trek have supported four different research projects run through the Malaghan Institute's MS research programme. These projects have focused on identifying new treatments for MS as well as on understanding how immune responses are altered during the disease.

We are humbled by the support received from the Great New Zealand Trek, which has been vital in allowing us to investigate and test new ideas and support the development of emerging MS researchers.

For more information on The Great New Zealand Trek and to find out how you can get involved in the next South Island stage, in February 2015, please visit their website.

About the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research

The Malaghan Institute of Medical Research is New Zealand’s leading vaccine and immunology research institute and is based at Victoria University of Wellington’s Kelburn campus. The Institute operates independently and is a charitable trust. Researchers at the Malaghan Institute are focused on developing innovative ways to harness the strength and potency of the immune system, the body’s own natural defence against disease, to treat cancer, asthma and allergy, arthritis and multiple sclerosis.