100km Oxfam Trailwalker Event Taupo NZ 2010

Walking 4 Water Team:

John, Sue, Kim, Stephen

Support Team:

Julie, Blake, Jonno & Jesse

Kees, Sandra, Powell & Rae, Diane & Heinz

Finish time: 21hrs 13mins

Team comments by John:

Once again I got myself 'picked up' by 3 Kiwi walkers in team “Walking 4 Water” who were short 1 person. Not only did this enable me to walk another 100 in NZ it enabled all of us to meet news friends. Our walking team coordinator/leader was Sue, wife to Kees who took on the coordination of the support crew and more. Sue had done the event last year and was well prepared - she is a very considerate and practical person. She brought in work buddy Stephen who had never walked more than about 40 kms and that was at our training weekend in Rotorua a few weeks earlier. He did however have considerable experience tramping (hiking). Kim was the other member who like myself, got 'picked up' about 6 weeks earlier, also because of a withdrawal. Kim had never done this event but had done a solo 100km walking event, mainly on roads, and also in Taupo just a few months earlier in an amazing time of 15.5 hours (few hills). Stephen and Kim are quick accelerators and can just take off, so I nicknamed them our "mosquitoes" (as in mosquito squadron) and they lived up to their name, even after dealing with some setbacks. So a
team with good experiences and quite good fitness levels was assembled.

During the event the 4 walkers worked extremely well together. We were able to adjust our speed according to the varying capabilities of the team particularly after the 50kms mark as knees and blisters started to be felt and strategies had to change. For example Kim started to be affected by knee troubles and used Heinz’s suggestion (support person) to walk down hills backwards which she did with the aid of two walking poles – and it worked!! Stephen got on top of a nagging blister and the pace heated up again with the last section of 13 kms being our 4^thfastest. What a team!

Thanks also to our wonderful support crew who put in a tremendous effort. Your smiling, friendly faces, feet & shoulder rubs, minor surgery, food prep, your fun dress up acts and knowing you were there at the next checkpoint and in between if needed made life so much easier for us – ya’ll just awesome!!

The team crossed the line TOGETHER in 21 hours 13 minutes which was 1 hour 14 minutes faster than the planned time and for me, my fastest time ever. Challenges – physical and psychological had been faced and met and we spent the weekend with wonderful people who are now good friends – who could ask for more!

Support Team comments:

We had an intrepid leader, Kees, whose organization ensured everything ran smoothly for the walkers from the preparation stage to the start and finish and beyond……

Each checkpoint was a happy place for walkers to grab a little timeout for sitting, eating, changing socks, shoes, footrubs, massages, blister or injury management and generally just getting the weight off their feet and we were there for anything they wanted or needed. Little Jesse was a great distraction from any aches and pains and we all had fun dressing up to bring extra smiles at each checkpoint.

Kees had the champagne pouring at the finish line in celebration of the walkers amazing feat (& feet!) Another wonderful event and a record time for John (this was his 6^th 100km event). All ran smoothly and once again we would love to thank Kees – his next occupation could surely be event organizing – thanks Kees, you’re a gem.

We all stayed in Taupo, one of the most beautiful places in NZ and the walk centred around Lake Taupo – just stunning. This is one of the sunsets we experienced -