Sydney Life

I am someone who likes a challenge. There was that cute Melbourne guy in 2003, a half marathon in 2004, triathlon in 2005. Now there’s the 100km Oxfam trail walker in 2006!!

Not sure if you realise how much of a challenge this trail walker is, but it is huge. My biggest challenge to date (that Melbourne guy seems like a walkover in comparison!)

Oxfam Australia is an Australian, independent, not-for-profit, secular, community-based aid and development organisation. It does fantastic work. It helps provide food and water to East Africa in the middle of a food crisis. It has distributed emergency packages to refugees in the Philippines after a landslide. It has helped develop communities in India and 22 other countries. (There’s a Sydney Uni branch of Oxfam if you are interested.)

Anyway, as a fundraising event for Oxfam there is a thing called the 100km trail walker. It is an ingenious idea. Imagine asking 400 people to fundraise at least $1000 for Oxfam. How many people do you think would really do it properly, putting blood sweat and tears into it? Funnily enough, if these 400 people are bribed with the opportunity to walk for 100km, then all of a sudden the application forms come flooding through. What a world we live in!!

The trail walker entails putting a team of 4 together. It entails sticking in this team even when they start smelling of B.O. It entails training. Lots of it. It entails fundraising. Lots of it (over $1000). It entails being prepared to walk/run through the bush in the night, continue trudging along even when the blisters are popping on your heels, sweat is pouring down your back and muscles are fatigued, burning with lactic acid.

As one friend succinctly described 100km: ‘it’s like walking from your place to Cumberland campus in Lidcombe, and back, and then there again, and then back again.’ Oh crap!

The route starts in Hunters Hill, goes through Lane Cove National Park up to Thornleigh and continues up to Crosslands (oh my goodness – Crosslands was a place out whoop whoop where I used to go for camps!!) From Crosslands we head down to Berowra Creek catchment, through St Ives, to Davidson Park and finally finishes at Frenchs Forest.

We’re estimating it will take us about 25 hours. You could already be in London from woe to go whilst we walk this 100km. You could have a massive night out, have a huge sleep in, and be rid of your hangover by the time we complete this walk. You could watch all the movies at Randwick Ritz Cinema before we finish. And if you really wanted to you could play 492 games of solitaire.

Yes, I am an idiot. An idiot who found 3 other equally silly friends to pursue this challenge. I am also an idiot who is need of lots of fundraising money. So please feel free to donate to help the idiots of this world (well, them and also the impoverished starving people who will receive this money).

Go to http://www.oxfam.org.au/trailwalker/donate/ (team name is Lions of Zion – corny but that was all we could come up with!).