total received funds
Sponsor our team and help us raise money for Oxfam Australia.
We're well past our target of $8,000
Sponsor our team and help to overcome poverty and injustice.
We've raised $11,820.
We're walking 100km. Help us make a difference.
Landers Bucketeers are diamond fundraisers Help us reach our target of $8,000.donate to our team
our top online donors
where does the money go?
05 May
Thanks, merci, grazie ... thanks a mil!
Massive thanks to everyone who supported us in this venture, from our amazing support crew (Sarah, Mark, Pat, John & Molly), to Landers for spotting our entry fee and clothing, to everyone who called and messaged encouraging sentiments before during and after the event, and to the many many people who have thrown money at Oxfam, including friends, family and workmates. Our biggest donation came from Accenture ($1,500); amazingly generous. We're proud to have raised almost $12,000 for Oxfam. If you're still feeling our pain, there's still time to donate (more!). This website will be open until 31 May, so donate like crazy, as you wish. We're told there's an awards night some time in June. At the moment we're on top of the fundraising leaderboard for the law category. We're not sure what that means, however suspect we'll find out soon enough. Thanks again all. Kate, Jorja, Jacq & Lil (hardcore b*tches).
04 May
Can you feel our pain?? (the best of the blisters)
Sorry. Had to throw in one of these. This is Lil. We don't know how she stayed upright. Gutsy.
04 May
Coronas on ice (finish line)
A cold Corona after 31 hours of walking hit the spot perfectly. So did the ice foot bath. We removed shoes and socks to inspect the damage. Lil had the most impressive blisters on blisters (so impressive that the podiatrist at the finish line called over his podiatrist mates to check out her collection), Jacq racked up 7 blisters on her right foot, 5 on the left, 4 lost toenails and bruised feet and ankles (and was described by a podiatrist 2 days later as having "traumatic wounds"), Kate had impressive height to her blisters, and Jorja's hair was a bit messed up.
04 May
26.3 laps of the tan
That's what 100km stacks up to. 26.3 laps of the tan (plus hills)!! And we'd done it. The kids were pretty excited to see Jacq and Lil again, and we had quite the cheer squad on walking up the home stretch to the finish line.
04 May
A stack on the track and 4km to go (CP7 to the end, last 7km)
We'd been warned about the last leg. 7km of hell, including the steepest of hills. We ventured out (with walking poles again) feeling anxious about what was ahead of us. We'd done our research and our strategy was to break the section down into 2 massive hills. Up. Down. Up. Down. We'd just tackle it one section at a time, and then we'd be home. In 3 hours, that is. And then Lil stacked it. On a log. On a hill. Not great. This is where Kate's strengths come to the forefront again, with her whipping out a bandage and strapping Lil's knee. It worked!! Lil was off again, and more determined than ever with only 5km or so to go. Along the way we passed one team virtually carrying one of their mates. Her leg was basically fused, and not bending at the knee (some people have a lot to prove). Turns out the last leg was a total beat up. Sure there were a couple of big hills, but nothing worse than what we'd already faced. We were HOME!!
04 May
CP7 (93km)
What a relief to get to the LAST checkpoint. We were the closest we'd get to a meltdown (and it was a mild one at that) and had only 7km ahead of us. And we'd heard bad things about that last stretch. The crew had scored what they told us was THE BEST parking spot for Winne. We couldn't drag ourselves from the body tune tent (or our egg and bacon rolls) to see it though. The rolls were washed down with Red Bulls (the preferred choice of hydration for the most desperate of athletes ...), we picked up our poles, and then we were off to smash this thing.
04 May
What is an aquaduct anyway?? (CP6 - 7 ... still)
The second half of CP6 - 7 was walking around an aquaduct. It just went forever, and we were over it. This was only made worse when, at a stage where we thought we had about 1km to go, one of the event marshall's indicated we had 5.5KM to go. Not impressed. We called ahead to the support crew and asked them to head in our direction to save us. We were so close to finishing. The thought of actually seeing the support crew again was enough to make us cry ... just a bit. 2 weeks after the event we found out the support crew was SORE from walking that 1km to meet us! Soft :)
04 May
Photo of the event (CP6 - 7, 75km)
Jacq took this photo. It was at around 8.30am on Saturday morning on leaving Woori Yallock Primary School heading from checkpoint 6 to 7, a mostly flat stretch. It was great to get up and moving again. Our real lesson in this whole thing was this: don't stop. At all, if you can. It's just so hard to wind up again. It was also on this leg that we did most of our peeing behind trees, in the bushes, any where you had to really. Not many bathrooms out there on the Warburton Trail ...
04 May
Shiny, happy people
Here they are. Our shiny, happy support crew, with no sleep, waving us goodbye at CP6. This includes Sarah with the worst headcold you can imagine, and Pat, just after he nearly punched someone for "talking loudly" outside his and Mark's tent. Yep, Pat and Mark shared a tent. Ha! Molly was still sleeping when this photo was taken. She woke up when John took off again in Winne and gave her a bit of a jolt.
04 May
Early morning in Woori Yallock (CP6, 72km)
Arriving at CP6 was pretty amazing. It was 5am and we were buggered. Way too buggered to celebrate reaching one of our key targets. The crew had set up our beds in Winne, Kate at one end with Molly, Jacq and Lil up top at the other end, and Jorja on the flat in the middle. Kate crashed out straight away, Jacq meditated, and Lil and Jorja stuffed around: Lil (whispering): "Jorj, can you please pass my jacket?" Jorja: "Huh Lil? Did you say something?". Lil: "Can you please pass me my jacket, I'm freeeezing." Jorja: "Lil I can't hear you. What do you want?". Lil (a little louder now): "My jack-et." Jorja: (feels around in the dark): "Lil, where is it?" Lil: "It's just on the floor there. Near your bed." Jorja (feels around some more): "Where abouts Lil? I can't find it." Lil: "It was just on the floor there, I just know it was. Or maybe it's in the box there." Jorja: (gets up, moves boxes, opens boxes, feels around in boxes ... This went on for several minutes until Jorja threw Molly's fur lined coat at Lil, the next best thing to be found in the dark. Jorja confessed later that she stuffed around even longer trying to get the lid off a new tube of Voltaren gel, in the dark. She eventually did, and smothered it on like body lotion. And then we "slept". For 90 minutes. It was quite unpleasant really. Shivering with cold, lower body muscles pulsating, back aching. And then Sarah comes in. It's 6.30am. She turns on the light, turns on the radio, puts the kettle on, and we ... stare. And Molly slept through all of this. For 14 hours in fact.
04 May
Morning Julian! (CP5 - 6, around 65km)
3.30am on the flats of the Warburton Trail in Seville. It was a lonely stretch. Kate and Jorja stopped for a photo of the old Seville Train Station sign for Julian Riekert who lives nearby (it was a bit too early to drop by for a cup of tea). It took a few shots to get it right. Jacq and Lil were over it and kept walking. This was one of the toughest stretches of the trail. The last hour between 4am and 5am was freezing cold, although we probably could have stopped, laid down on the trail, and dropped off to sleep there and then. Jacq and Lil were saved by a bit of iPod action, and we otherwise hung in there in the knowledge that we were about to rack up 72kms. Jorja tried to help with a bit of "C'mon, what are we? We're hardcore!! HARDCORE!!". The response? "Yeah. Hardcooore." We also gave Jill Carter's recommended conversation starters a try (My worst habit is ... the craziest thing I've ever done is ... my guilty pleasure is ... the person next to me can be described as ...) Whoa ...
04 May
Hardcore (CP5, 59.6km)
The cracks were starting to show at checkpoint 5. We were nearly 60km in, tired, sore and cold. As soon as we arrived Jacq snuck off for a cry somewhere, and the rest of us lined up for the massage tables. We'd intended to stop for a sleep at this point. In between CP4 and 5 however we agreed we should only stop if we were completely ruined, which we agreed we weren't, and that if we were even half up to it, we should try to push on to CP6. Getting to CP6 would mean racking up 72km, and a much smaller piece of ground to cover the next morning. We'd also had a call from Gav Hollamby (post 8 hour client lunch, thanks very much Landers) on the way to CP6, who gave us a bit of a pep talk about the merits of pushing to the next checkpoint. It worked. We were on board. Why? Because we were HARDCORE!!
04 May
Sounds in the night (CP 4 - 5)
All manner of them. A tree falling in the middle of the bush (amazing and eerie). Farting. The other teams were just disgusting. And the 4 of us laughing like lunatics at Kate's observation of Lil: "She's just like a possum when it turns dark!" Seriously, turn the lights out and Lil's off like ... a possum! We seriously couldn't keep up with her in the dark. Most impressive possuming, fluffy possum.
04 May
Bucketeers v Phi-lander-ers (CP4, 45.2km)
Ah the Landers love! It was very nice to bump into our comrades (Meg, Caz, KJ and Luke aka Phi-lander-ers) on checking in at CP4. We were there for a dinner of minestrone soup (top marks Sarah), and about an hour to sit and recharge. We were still feeling pretty good, although the first signs of strain were starting to show. That was remedied by the crew however, particularly Mark, who outdid everyone in the cheering up and energy rousing stakes. Was it the Red Bull? The Coronas? Did Pat spike his drink?? Or was he just keyed up about not getting a shot behind the wheel of Winne? (Sarah reckons he would've if his sat nav wasn't so crap). Nup. That's just how he is. All the time.
04 May
First rub down and no vanilla slices (CP3, 34.8km)
At CP3 we experienced our first "body tune". From CP3 onwards, checkpoints were staffed with massage therapists, physios and podiatrists, all in one massive tent. We loved it, although it did get a bit hairy trying to negotiate your position in the queue so your turn for a massage coincided with the availability of the best looking male therapist under 25 years of age (we're a competitive bunch). So by this point it was around 5pm in the afternoon and time to rug up for night walking. Add to that walking poles and headlamps. It was a great checkpoint; excellent atmosphere, mostly because everyone was still in reasonably good shape. This wasn't however the favourite checkpoint of our support crew, who had to bus it in with the masses, sardine style in mini buses, loaded up with all of our equipment (warm clothes, food, gatorade, walking poles ... Jorja's yoga mat ...). They were VERY good sports. They were a bit worried however that they didn't get to the checkpoint in time to stock up on the famous vanilla slices we'd heard about. We in fact called ahead of arriving to remind them. We later found out they were a bit scared to tell us they couldn't get any because they'd run out ...
04 May
Meet "Winne"
Here's our support crew's transport of choice. This little beauty was our home for the 90 mins we had to sleep/rock in the foetal position in her. The crew loved her. Especially John. Only John was allowed to drive, because ... he said so. Clearly the alpha male of the trip. Anyway, this is the Winnebago we paid about 700 bucks to get hold of for a couple of nights. With Sarah Rose involved, this was always going to be a classy road trip.
04 May
Feeling fresh at Lysterfield Lake (CP2, 21.5km)
21.5kms in, feeling good, feeling fresh. This is the first time we met the support crew and experienced the luxury that is team Landers Bucketeers. The crew had found a top spot on the grass. Sarah had set up our colour coded picnic chairs (seriously), and a lunch spread of chicken and salad rolls and mini quiches was laid out. We ate, stretched, re-taped feet, topped up on the gatorade (some of us popped our first anti inflams ... ) and we were off again.
04 May
How about those bananas?? (CP1, 12.5km)
Here we are at CP1, Churchill National Park, too cool to stretch properly. Here we found the most perfect bananas we'd ever seen. Not too big, not too small, but just right. And perfectly ripe and unblemished skins. These are the sorts of things you talk about on a 100km walk ... hey how about those bananas??
04 May
Team 273 from the modeling agency!!
Ha! What a nice way to be greeted by the chirpy announcer at the rego desk at 7am on event day! We were already over excited, and that only helped to get the energy pumping even harder. This was only bolstered by Jacq's comment at the starting line (8.27am before the 8.30am kick off): "I think I could almost do this again. Remind me at the finish that I said this!" (we did, and she didn't like it). And the excitement didn't stop there. Just over an hour later (at 9.35am) Jacq volunteers another cracker: "Maybe next year we'll do it with Grant!". As fricken if. Grant (Levy) smashed this thing in 18 hours and was still RUNNING at the 90km mark. So yep, we were PUMPED. And so we were off.
22 April
We did it in 31.5 hours!!
And here's the proof! We reckon we're pretty hardcore for a bunch of birds who work in an office. Full report and more pics to follow.
15 April
But it looks like toilet water ...
And that's why the blue one's always the one left over from training walks. Blue drinks in cocktail glasses with little umbrellas in them are fine. But a blue drink in a plastic bottle? Just looks bad. The routine for training walks was to take it in turns to bring along the Gatorade (or Powerade, we're not that fussy). Then we'd go through a polite routine of "Which colour would you like?" The person asking would always hope for the response "Blue thanks." Never happened. So the conversation would continue with more polite gestures, like "I don't really mind, any colour is fine." Then, "Are you sure? Pick one. Go on. Pick one!." Typically followed by, "I'm really not fussed about which colour." And so it continued, usually until Jacq slapped someone and said "Alright alright! I'LL have the red one!!" And we weren't really even tired then. This is going to be an interesting science experiment. Stay tuned everyone. Kick off is 8.30am tomorrow. 1 MORE SLEEP!!!!
14 April
Strategy meeting (plus news on fundraising scandal!!)
Here we are at lunchtime today (people here call it a "working" meeting) planning our attack for the weekend (and eating hot chips; the carb rich salad sandwich you see here wasn't consumed, we're too stressed). Anyway, we reckon we're on track. We've built a bit of fat into our rest stops with the aim of clearing the bar more frequently. And we've agreed on how much toilet paper we need to bring (it's all in the details). On fundraising, we're a bit alarmed to see that we've slipped to SECOND PLACE on the fundraising leaderboard for the law category. It turns out that a grand poobah of the L&R partnership has some favourites among the firm's 3 teams. Very interesting. 2 more sleeps … can't sleep.
13 April
Words of wisdom from an ironman widow
Advice for event day is coming from all directions at the moment, including Rome, Italy!! Thanks to Liza Ryan (we love you Lyz!) who emailed from her European honeymoon with a pep talk: "Remember, don't peak too early!" .... "Pain is temporary, pride is forever" ... "It's a long way to the top but it's a great view when you get there" ... "No pain, no gain" ... "Pain is weakness leaving the body" ... (yeah!!!) ... "There are no shortcuts to any place worth going" ... "You only ever grow as a human being if you are outside your comfort zone" ... "Spirit has fifty times the strength and staying power of brawn and muscle" ... "The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a person's determination". Or, like Lil said, "Hope for the best and plan for the worst". Or Sarah Rose, "You're not going back to check points 1 or 2, you've just got to keep looking forward!!" Them's fighting words. Eye of the tiger etc etc. 3 more sleeps.
12 April
Carb loading
Yep, we're feeling fat. Real fat. It started last Friday night at the Woori Yallock pub with these cheese and mustard ... things, for entrée, followed by parmas, and washed down with mars bar cake (don't have a photo of that, destroyed the evidence). We've read somewhere that our lead up carb loading menu should look something like this: Breakfast: porridge with milk and sugar + toast + fruit. Lunch: couple of rounds of sandwiches + fruit. Dinner: Pasta (and lots of it). Snacks (all day): whatever you can get your mitts on!! Yep, those tight tights are going to look HOT!! Signing out to throw up now ... if only I could get .. out ... of my ...... chair. 4 more sleeps.
11 April
Tapering with scotch
Nope. We're not "taping" our toes, heels or feet. We're "tapERing". With scotch. Scotch whisky, that is. Lil and Kate both have colds. Scotch is good for a cold. That was our excuse anyway. The Woori Yallock pub was pumping on Friday night ... with ... all four of us. And yes, we took our headlamps off before we went in. 5 more sleeps.
10 April
Have you ever seen Wolf Creek?
Half of us had, the other half hadn't, and we agreed we didn't want to talk about it on our night walk. Same goes for Blair Witch Project. It was pretty dark out there in Woori Yallock last night. Kate felt compelled to keep an eye on the track behind us, just in case we were being followed. Seriously though, if anyone had come across our giggling conga line, I reckon they would've bolted in the opposite direction! They at least would've been suspicious of Lil looking like a scuba diver!! Conditions were good and a fair indication of what we'll face next week. The long range weather forecast suggests it'll be clear with no rain. We're happy with that. So, with headlamps and supersonic torches (picked up by Kate and John through the MFB) all tested, we're feeling good for walking in the dark. The tapering continues.
08 April
To tape or not to tape?
Here we are at our meeting venue of choice, SMXL, workshopping the merits of foot taping, heel taping, toe taping ... Advice from Stacey (Oxfam veteran) is TAPE!! And use some goo called Duoderm. We're onto it. 8 more sleeps. Night walk tomorrow night. Word.
05 April
56km on 28 March + a few stories (mostly involving Jacq!)
-1.jpg)
For real!! This is the team somewhere in beautiful Footscray about 5km from the end of our 10 hour walk. Start time was 6.20am at the office. By 6.30am Jacq had stacked it on a tram line. Here's the chain of events ... it's dark down at the Docklands, pretty quiet, then Jacq's on the ground: "Aaahh my knee, my knee!!! Aaah my knee!!! Ooohaaargh!!!!". Lil: Laughs (only a true friend could get away with it). Kate: Kicks into nurse mode, pulls out the most sophisticated first aid kit you can imagine (champ, we'd be stuffed without you Kate), Jorja: "Watch out for cars! Quick! Let's get her off the road!!" (anxious about the possibility of more blood). Sounds bad, but Jacq's a true champ and came good in a matter of 5 minutes. And then we were off again! John (after night shift with extra overtime) met us for lunch with coffee orders and ice packs (hero), along the way Jorja saw 2 rabbits and a rat (are the rest of you blind??), and Lil put her life on the line to hail a taxi about 1km from the finish on Footscray Road when it started to rain. Excellent!! Will they have taxis on the Warbuton Trail Lil? To top the day off, Jacq and Jorja were waved through by the cops at a random breath test unit on Swan Street before being stopped on the other side of the unit. Jacq, without ID of any description, shoeless, blistered, and with close to a whole packet of Voltaren in her system, winds down the window ... the nice policeman asks: "Can you explain the expired registration sticker on the vehicle?". Jacq: "Um ... it's my husband's car." (good one Pat). Meantime, Jorja's rifling through the passenger side glove box and produces the current rego sticker. Score!! The nice policeman indicates the last car copped a $140 fine for the same offence and on this occasion he'd let us go. Ha!! Anyway, that's the latest with the Bucketeers. We're now in countdown mode. Our final training walk will be a night walk next Friday, 9 April, headlamps and all.
05 April
The good old days ... when we did 5 hour training walks ...
.jpg)
Ah, the good old days. When we walked for a few hours, rolled down a hill for a laugh, sat around, laughed some more, walked for a bit, stopped for a latte ... those days are over friends. Thanks to all of our supporters over the last few weeks. We've now topped our fundraising target of $5,000 and the donations keep coming. Thanks all.
10 February
Upcoming training walks - join us!
All are welcome to join us for training sessions on Saturday 13 February (6.30am kick off, check points 4 - 6, est 7 hrs); Friday 19 February (night walk kicking off 6pmish, check points 3 - 4, est 3 hrs; not for chickens!) and afterwards staying at a pub in Warburton before an early start the next morning to do another 7km, est 3 hrs. Watch out also for a monster and final training walk (before we taper!) on Sunday 28 March, all day, location tbc. Shout out if you'd like to come along.
10 February
40kg of snags!!
40kg of snags + 10kg of onions stacks up to $1,790 in the tin for Oxfam!! What a day we had at Bunnings!! A big thanks to our visitors from the Landers family; Susannah & Phil, Mark & Michael, Derek & James, Andrena, Liza, Adam & Marcus and Sarah & Henry. Massive thanks to our support crew Molly, John (who hogged the tongs and turned sausages ALL DAY), Mark (keeper of the money tin) and Pat for their hands on help all day. Thanks also to Tasman Meats for cutting a deal on the snags (nice one Lil!) and to Frank at Fresh@Highpoint Fresh Fuit & Veg for donating the onions (we shared the chopping). And a special mention to our new mate Derryn Hinch who threw 50 bucks in the tin (true! see the photo!!). We're now just over half way to our fundraising target which is excellent. 9 weeks to go. Keep it coming people.
27 December
Would you like onions with that?? Sausage Sizzle, Bunnings, Port Melbourne, Saturday 30 January
.jpg)
The Landers Bucketeers are firing it up! Come along for a snag at our first fundraising event for the year at Bunnings in Port Melbourne on Saturday, 30 January. Breakfast snags on the go from 8am. Hope to see you there! Jacqui, Jorja, Kate & Lillian
27 December
Training walk, 6 December 2009
.jpg)
Team Landers Bucketeers ventured out to Jells Park for our first training walk on the course on 6 December. Kick off was 7.30am at check point 2. Great conditions for walking, spotted some good sized roos, tested the legs with a bit of hill work, and learned that a good sized stick doubles as a decent prop! The gossip flowed consistently and ramped up after a latte on discovering a bikers coffee shop in the middle of the bush!! What a find. Wrap up time was 1pm with all in one piece and happy to have invested a few kms in the legs. For anyone who's interested, our next walk is planned for Sunday 31 January from 7am - 1pm, location tbc. Please get in touch if you'd like to join us. Jacqui, Jorja, Kate & Lillian
