GeelongPort hosted its second annual “Wing It Challenge” in September to raise money to support our chosen charity, The Kids with Cancer Foundation. Around 60 participants put their taste buds on the line by progressively sampling a range of 5 chilli sauces smeared over two chicken wings.
The chilli included a number of varieties such as smoked jalapeno, chipotle & cayenne, habanero roja, bhut jolokia, and spicy sanchez. To put the chilli intensity into perspective, the last chilli sauce is equivalent to the hottest chilli in the world – The Carolina Reaper!
The night was a “flaming” success with $5,000 raised for the Kids with Cancer Foundation. Eric Watson the Kids with Cancer Foundation’s Victorian Marketing Manager was in attendance to gratefully accept the cheque at the end of the evening.
To “spice up” the donations this year we added silent auctions and a major auction item of a signed 2017 Geelong Cats Football! In addition, to encourage people to push through each of the rounds special awards were presented:
“The Rookie”
- Description: Tried your best but came up short. With a little more experience under your belt you may get there. Better luck next year!
- 2017 Winner: Michelle Philbey from GeelongPort
“Most Sweaty”
- Description: Looks like you just stepped out of a Swedish Sauna. Next time bring your bath towel.
- 2017 Winner: Steve Moore from Kelly Logistics
“Runniest Nose”
- Description: Sponsored by Kleenex, this person has gone through a few boxes tonight.
- 2017 Winner: Dean Black from Boral
“The Crier”
- Description: Get’s emotional when eating chilli…but it’s for a good cause after all.
- 2017 Winner: Vek Rancic from Incitec Pivot Limited
“Red Face”
- Description: Feeling the heat and it shows….our erubescent friend is a beacon for all to see.
- 2017 Winner: Jarrad Cronin from GeelongPort
“The Professional”
- Description: An unstoppable, immortal, chilli eating machine that has a fireproof palette.
- 2017 Winner: Kas Szakiel from the Victorian Regional Channel Authority
We were very fortunate this year to have the support of the Victorian Regional Channels Authority as one of our main sponsors and The Federal Café-Restaurant-Bar who kindly donated their venue for our event.
Our major auction item was kindly donated by the Geelong Football Club and was auctioned off at the end of the evening fetching $520!. Our silent auction items were generously donated by our lovely suppliers: Barwon Safety, Middy’s, Helen’s Cleaning Service, Total Tools and Goodall’s Quality Meats which raised a total of $1,020!
Jack Tee Shack supplied the T-Shirts with logos, Melbourne Hot Sauce provided the sauces, Champion Trophies put together the medals and trophies, and the Chilli Seed Bank provided the seeds to grown your own.
We are looking forward to an even bigger and hotter 2018 GeelongPort Chilli Challenge!