First-time Trailwalker team The Young and the Breathless became the first to cross the finish line at the 12th Oxfam Trailwalker charity event this weekend, completing the 100km course in 14 hours and 32 minutes.
Fastest team The Young and the Breathless celebrate their achievement at the finish line. Photo credit: Artur Francisco
First-time Trailwalker team The Young and the Breathless became the first to cross the finish line at the 12th Oxfam Trailwalker charity event this weekend, completing the 100km course in 14 hours and 32 minutes.
Daniel Barthow, Oxfam’s Engagement Director, said “This is an incredible accomplishment and one the team can be proud of for the rest of their lives. It’s an exhilarating moment for both the team and supporters seeing them come over the finish line after one hundred gruelling kilometres,” he said.
Participants in teams of four trekked through either a 50km or 100km route across some of the Bay of Plenty’s stunning countryside, including Ōhope Beach. Teams started early Saturday morning and had 18 hours to complete the 50km route or 36 hours to compete the 100km route. The last team to cross the 100km line came in yesterday at 35 hours and 24 minutes.
“Oxfam Trailwalker is a life-changing experience for many people, who have to dig deep for themselves and their team mates to make it through to the end. The wonderful welcome received from Whakatāne will certainly have helped inspire our teams on through the last legs. A huge thank you to the Whakatāne District Council and the local community for their support.”
Second to cross the 100km line were Trailwalker veterans Cool Runnings. The two-time winners finished in 15 hours and 46 minutes, gliding past the finish in full Jamaican bobsled team costume complete with bobsled.
In third position were local team Merry Berries, crossing the line in 16 hours 12 minutes, taking a top-three place for the second year in a row.
The first team to cross the 50km line was local Whakatāne team ANZ Amblers, in 10 hours 31 minutes. However the fastest team – they started an hour later – were the Walking Calculators, who came in at 9 hours 56 minutes.
Once the feet have recovered and the legs have revitalised, teams will continue to fundraise until the cut-off in May, supporting Oxfam’s humanitarian and long-term development work in some of the world’s poorest countries.
Oxfam Trailwalker has so far raised $784,000 and is edging closer to its $1million target. Donations to teams can be made at oxfamtrailwalker.org.nz
Fastest times 100 km
1. The Young and the Breathless 14:32 (Auckland/Napier)
2. Cool Runnings 15:46 (Auckland/Christchurch/Wellington/Wanaka)
3. Merry Berries 16:12 (Whakatāne, representing Julian’s Berry Farm)
Fastest times 50km
1. The Walking Calculators 9:56 (Opotiki)
2. Walk It Forward 10:10 (Hamilton)
3. ANZ Amblers 10:31 (Whakatāne)
//ENDS
Notes
Oxfam Trailwalker is the ultimate team challenge – tackle 100km in 36 hours or 50km in 18 hours and raise funds to fight poverty. Oxfam Trailwalker is part of an international series of 17 events held worldwide in 11 countries. Over the years, the event has raised more than $160 million internationally for Oxfam’s life-saving work.
Set up by the legendary elite Queen’s Gurkha Signals Regiment in 1981 as a military exercise to test teamwork, endurance and determination, Oxfam Trailwalker is the ultimate physical and mental challenge. It began in 2006 in New Zealand. Since then over 12,000 participants have lined up at the start line and raised over $10 million.
