Tauranga City Council has received an application to hold a mass ice challenge at Memorial Park this weekend to raise funds for the Cancer Society.

City events co-ordinator Ella Anselmi confirmed to SunLive a member of the public lodged an application requesting the use of the park for a group Ice Challenge on Saturday.

Tauranga friends Harriet Hiku and John Williams are organising a mass Ice Challenge to raise funds for their nieces, three-year-old Madison Matthews and Te Paea Rameka, 8, who are both battling cancer. Photo: Facebook.

She says the application was entered early last week, but has not yet been approved.

'An application has been put forward but we're waiting to hear more details from the applicant until we can approve it.

'We are closer, but [it] still hasn't been approved yet.”

The event is based on the new social media game where people are dared to douse themselves in ice cold water, film it and post it to Facebook where others are nominated to do the same.

The game is going viral on social media sites, with the Cancer Society so far receiving more than $60,000 in donations from the game in the Waikato/Bay of Plenty region.

The event has been organised by Tauranga friends Harriet Hiku and John Williams to raise funds for their nieces, aged 3 and 8, who are both battling cancer.

More than 150 people are expected to attend the event, which is restricted to people aged 13 plus.

John's three-year-old niece Madison Matthews has been diagnosed with leukaemia. She was born in New Zealand but now lives in Australia where she will not receive funding for treatment as she is not a citizen.

Harriet's niece Te Paea Rameka, 8, also has brain tumour and travels from Kaitaia to Auckland three times a month.

'We are just sorting out public liability at the moment but when that is done the council approval is a go ahead, we have an insurance broker sorting that out.”

The cost to participate in the event will be $10 with all funds raised from the main event going towards Cancer Society.

Money raised from the barbecue lunch, provided by Harriet and John, will go towards their nieces Madison and Te Paea.

'There are a lot of people out there who have family members suffering from cancer too.”

Klassic Ice has provided 200 bags of ice for $1 each instead of $4 and eight-year-old Te Paea's dad Taonui has offered to cover the liability cost.

The mass challenge is scheduled to take place at Memorial Park from 9am to 1pm, with the main event starting at 11am. The event is restricted to people aged 13 plus.

Click here for a link to the ice challenge event Facebook page. A video link was also attached to the bottom of the post.