In less than 3 weeks I'll be doing the Oxfam NZ Trailwalker - walking and maybe hobbling, but I very much doubt running, 100km in less than 36 hours.
My team and I have asked among friends if any of them have done it, so we can get tips from them. I was wondering if there were any past or present Trailwalkers out there in TB Land 😊
Reply to this Wow April 10th-11th is coming up fast. I only just saw your post . Don't know if I can offer any advice. I guess by now you have worked everything out. I have done the Australia Oxfam 4 times and Japan once. I have only ever completed it twice out of all of those attempts and the 2 times we completed it we had an injured team member so we were in for the extremely long haul over 40hrs but as you might know you get 48hrs in Australia and Japan. Anyway, let me know if you have any questions that I might be able to assist with. I am resonably familiar with the region you are walking in as I am a Kiwi myself and have looked at the profile of the NZ Oxfam a few weeks ago as am thinking of doing it next year. Cheers Chrissie
Reply to this Hi Christine,
I knew Japan's event is over 48 hours - didn't know Australia is the same.
Funnily enough I am right now literally about to head out to our last team training walk - 6am start! Would rather stay home and finish the Easter eggs ;-)
Reply to this Have a good walk today. You will want the Easter eggs when you get home. I was just going to say my personal experience I found these 2 things out by experience 1) the support crew are a must carrying your preferred food, changes of dry clothes and moral support 2) Make sure the team understands the strategy i.e. how are you going to manage injured members, are you going to hang in there as a team of 4 with them or are they going to retire so the rest of the team can get in safely without going to sleep while they are walking - you can't make these decisions on the day as emotion is at its peak once you go past 50km . The rest of the stuff is already on the website and so are these suggestions I think but these ones are important.
Whats the name of your team ? Do you have a team page? I just started a Blog called "thetrailwalkers.com" and I might put a link to your page. It's just going live .It's very Sydney oriented but there is a section for other trailwalks so it would be nice to follow your team. I'm about to head out the door for a quick walk up Kincumber Mountain - it's a short walk and it's not that high and graded medium sp pretty sweet.
All the best, Chrissie
Reply to this There's one on my profile page to the team one Chrissie, which will have Twitter updates and our times for the checkpoints.
We have a support crew of 4, and Oxfam have been pretty thorough with information. Thanks for your advise too :-)
I think the 30km this morning will be the last team training - I'm happy just resting the rest of this week.
Reply to this Choice - I will check it out and all the best for the team if we don't speak again - Chrissie
Reply to this Thanks 😊 - I'm keen to do it next year too, but I might change my mind after the event!
Reply to this 100km in 28 hours 35 minutes - physically and emotionally draining, but probably the most amazing and inspiring event that I've ever been a part of 😊
Reply to this Awesome Jo, great! Friends of mine did the Hong Kong one a few years ago and absolutely loved it; their reactions were similar to yours. I had already left at that time else I would have joined in - especially since the one in HK traverses entire HK Island, it is absolutely stunning. I did it some years ago in 4 days, but doing it in 28h or so is sth completely different. So well done, I hope I can do one of them in the future.
Reply to this Thanks Ben 😊
Apparently HK was the original one, and instead of 2 start times like the NZ event, they stagger them over half a day due to the number of participants. The terrain is a lot tougher than the NZ one which is why there is a 36 hour limit rather than 40 or 48 hours like all other countries.
Reply to this What an incredible time you guys did it in Jo .That is just amazing especially for your first Oxfam. It is an amazing and inspiring event like you say and it gets under your skin. I'm having a year off but I have seriously been thinking about the NZ track as I have a group of girls in NZ that are keen. You will probably be back next year and you'll probably know by tomorrow.
Reply to this Chrissie: I think the decision was made before I crossed the start line - there was a huge buzz around the pre-start formalities, and it stayed for the whole event.
Reply to this Yeah - it's a pretty special feeling alright, you're all of a sudden alone on the track and then you come into a checkpoint and it's a hub of noise and activity in the middle of the night and it's all about the walkers - unreal. Might see you next year over the hills and far away.
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