Lorraine Gormley
Oxfam trailwalker is a 100km ‘walk’ from the Hawkesbury to the Harbour. Teams of four set off on Friday 26 August 2011 hoping to complete it in under 48 hours. Some teams chose to sleep along the way at various checkpoints, but we opted to keep walking the whole way (well, apart from food stops and a few half-hour rest stops along the way).
After our months of training, buying lots of lycra and testing out endless energy bars and weird sports gels, the big day arrived and, at 10am, we set off. Unfortunately two of our team members had to drop out during the walk but myself and another friend made it to the end. Having walked all day and night Friday and all day Saturday we finished at 8.30pm in Mosman at Georges Heights. We did it in 34.5 hours.
All the money raised goes to Oxfam to support their vital aid work overseas – this year the Sydney event alone raised over $3 million. We just managed to exceed our $5 per km target and raised $5,255 for this great cause.
It was an awesome event and probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done, as after 50km and 20 hours of walking it becomes more a mental, rather than physical, challenge. That said, I loved the whole experience and was lucky to have such great support with very generous donations.
Nick Mercer
On Friday 4 November, 120 riders set off on the zoo2zoo ride from Taronga Zoo in Sydney to ride the 460km to Western Plains Zoo out at Dubbo. The event is in its seventh year, with this year having the highest number of riders who collectively raised over $105,000 for the Black Dog Institute.
The first day we cycled out past Castle Hills and to Richmond where we stopped for a spot of lunch. Then up the Yarramundi Hill to Springwood stopping at Mount Victoria for the night. The next day was a big day of riding down to Lithgow, then out past Bathurst and Orange and stopping the night in Molong. The final day saw us riding through Cumnock and Yeovil with stunning rural scenery and lovely blue skies.
The ride was celebrated with the Mayor of Dubbo at a civic reception held in the Zoo at Dubbo.
