Finished the OXFAM Trailwalker

Well we did it! The three Ultimate Walking Warriors teams (ICHI, NI, and SUN) completed the 2009 Melbourne OXFAM Trailwalker in about 35 hours. There were a few injuries, a lot of blisters and muscular aches, some tears, a lot of smiles and a sense of achievement.

We were due for an 8:30 start on Friday morning. There was a chill in the air but it was looking like a great day for walking; no rain, clear skies and not too hot. The plan was to meet at 7:30 to do the check-in formalities. That was the plan, but between confusion in the carpark and a few folks getting the last few minutes sleep, it didn’t quite happen. Wilbur Wilde and Make Brady were there to sing for the crowd (and walk).

At 8:30, after a big count down, the long snake of walkers headed under the start banner and down the hill. There seemed like thousands of people although it was probably a few hundred (some teams started at 7:00 and others at 10:00). The first few klms were like trying to walk down Swanston St on a busy lunch time. There were people everywhere and passing slower teams was a real challenge. I caught up to my brother Ged who was walking just ahead of us and had a chat.

We followed the Dandenong Creek for klms before hooking up towards Churchill National Park. We passed through some of the areas burnt the week before Black Saturday. There was already grass growing through the black ground.

At Checkpoint 1 I ran into an old friend who was working at the Check-in tent. She works for Bendigo bank and as they had so many teams she’d volunteered to help out. I was amazed at the number, and spirits, of the volunteers, particularly later in the walk where you came across road marshals sitting by themselves in the cold.

We scoffed bananas and chocolate bars at CP1 (no support crew) and bade Ando goodby. He’d filled in for another member, but could only do the first leg as he had to go open the dojo. At this point we were about 15 mins ahead of schedule and feeling good, although we seemed to be at the back of the 10:00am start pack .

From here we started on the first set of hills, winding through Churchill National Park and more burnt-out areas. The first big hill ends in a bald peak and there were a lot of teams resting. My calves were awake. Heading down the hill I thought I’d have a bit of a jog and let gravity help me. Fiona caught up and we jogged for a few hundred meters before settling back into a casual walk. As became the pattern for the rest of the walk, our teams spread out based on individual speed (and later on, injuries!). We followed Wilbur Wilde’s team for a bit and got called smart arse’s after we jogged past them down the hill to CP2.

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