Long-distance team hiking event - Oxfam Trailwalker 50km in under 15hrs.
by My Salakas
I can honestly say this has been one of the most enjoyable physical hiking challenges I’ve ever taken.
8 amazing Diamonds ready to hike 50km for poverty.
The Oxfam Trailwalker event is a 100km or 50km hike in teams of 4 along mixed trails in Sydney’s north - Hawkesbury to the Harbour through National Parks and wild terrain. Raising money, training our bodies, sorting our gear and all arriving at the start line is a feat in itself. There are many beautiful parts of the trail and the weather on the day turned out a lot better than we could hope for. The best part of the experience was sharing it and completing it with three amazing Diamonds In the Rough women. We couldn’t have done without our village of support crew which included our husbands, the fabulous Dette and Mark, and our Diamond coaches Jacq and Jo.
30km done - cheers all round.
We started the early morning with a lot of jittery nerves and excitement. We were cheekily very happy that the route changed such that we miss the dreadful uphill slog up to the Sphinx Memorial and walked along the Marina instead to get to the St Ives checkpoint.
This gave us the confidence and momentum to keep going to the 30km second checkpoint mark at Davidson Park.
A muddy checkpoint!
At this checkpoint, we were greeted by Jacq and Jo which was a pleasant surprise as we were only expecting my husband. The welcoming chairs, water refilling service and words of encouragement and tips for next leg were much appreciated.
Love a good chair!
The trail got more challenging after 30km. It was muddier and the “3km to go signs” were deceiving and discouraging at times. If I had to pick a lowlight of the day, it probably was all the mud, mud and mud everywhere which isn’t that bad since we train in muddy conditions.
Volunteers are the heart of this event!
I’d say the highlight came at the next checkpoint at Frenchs Forest where we were greeted with Dette’s infectious big smile and her husband who laid out a nice spread of chairs and food, including the notorious and delicious hot chicken rice soup which I devoured two bowls. It was the perfect food to carb up and warm us for the final leg. She gave us wonderful words of encouragement and allowed us to offload unnecessary items which made us pumped and ready for the finish line.
Our sister team on one of the many creek crossings!
The final leg was difficult being the last one but we knew we would finish. My teammates still had a lot of steam in them despite old injury flare-ups and general fatigue. Positive morale was maintained by playing car ride games and sharing favourite movies of all times with each other and reminiscing about how delicious Dette’s chicken soup was and how we need her recipe.
The magic of soup and arriving at a checkpoint!
Overall, whilst there was pain experienced to varying degrees by each team member, I was in awe at how we kept trudging along. Ironically even though our team name was “No pressure No diamonds” we never put or felt any pressure on ourselves. We said in the beginning and through all our training sessions together that our goal was to finish and finish together no matter how long it would take us. And we did just that and with a fantastic result that we are all still shocked by considering our allowances for rest times and enjoying the journey time.
Team Diamonds in the Rough!
I’m grateful for the training opportunities with our sister team and the myriad support crew and most of all to my teammates who really showed me what grit and perseverance are all about. I think we learnt a lot about ourselves and formed a great bond that I think will last beyond Oxfam. Also, all the support from our Diamonds family before and after the event has kept me smiling as that is one of the few muscles that is not sore :).
Team No Pressure, No Diamonds!