Hamton

Oxfam Trailwalker Report by Amanda Roper 

6 Hamtonites (Paul, Chris, Matt, Scott, Sarah, & I) set off at 7am on Friday 10th April from Jells Park, Wheelers Hill to embark on Oxfam Trailwalker 2008. A challenging 100km walk finishing at Wesborne Park, Warburton.

We had grand plans to finish the walk in 24 hours. Chris had mapped out our check point ETA’s and our necessary pace to achieve this time, but that was quickly wiped when the walk started and everyone found their own rhythm within the group.

The weather was on our side (not like the conditions the team had to suffer through last year); it was perfect conditions for walking.

The terrain was varied with different extremes of uphill and downhill, rainforest tracks through the Dandenong Ranges, monotonous flat stretches along the Warburton trail and tracks through the scrub proved difficult in the dark.

We suffered a casualty along the way – Sarah succumbed to her blisters at the 65km point at midnight (Sarah had been the trooper the previous year).

The rest of us powered on and we were all thrilled to be at the final checkpoint before the last leg of 9.6km. Paul H curbed my enthusiasm by saying that it was some of the toughest part of the track, it was grueling and by this time everyone was nursing either shin splints, blisters, rolled ankles, calf trouble or just general soreness and fatigue.

We were lucky to have such an outstanding support crew of Sally (and later Sally’s husband Chris), Gabby Fitzgerald, Alistair Birch and Tim Hubbard. These guys provided us with everything we needed along the way. Nothing was too much trouble and it made all the difference to have their support at 3am for a pit stop on the Warburton Trail for some Gatorade and Michael Jackson by the road side.

It was absolute relief to cross the finish line at 3:30pm on Saturday afternoon. It was great to see our support crew at the finish – they were just as weary and in need of rest as we were.

We had an elapse time of 32 hours, but the actual time walking was about 20 hours.

We raised just over $10,000 for Oxfam Australia. The work they do in developing countries is so important and we thank all of those who supported us and donated to this great cause.