Eight Hamtonites (Paul H, Chris, Matt, Paul S, Scott, Sarah, Tara and Amanda) 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.
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 that proved difficult in the dark.
We suffered two casualties along the way – Tara withdrew due to a sore ankle at the 46km mark after a killer effort up Hacketts Road, Olinda, and Sarah succumbed to her blisters at the 65km point after midnight (Sarah had been the trooper the previous year).
The rest of us powered onto the finish and it was an absolute relief to cross the finish line at 3:30pm on Saturday afternoon. Everyone (except for Paul Saly) was nursing either shin splints, blisters, rolled ankles or just general soreness and fatigue.
We were lucky to have an outstanding support crew of Sally (and later Sally’s husband Chris, Gabby, Alistair 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 throughout the walk.
We had an elapsed time of 32 hours, but the actual time walking was about 20 hours.
We raised over $10,000 for Oxfam Australia. The work they do in developing countries is so important and we thank all those who supported us and donated to this great cause.
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