total received funds
Sponsor our team and help us raise money for Oxfam Australia.
We're well past our target of $10,000
Sponsor our team and help to overcome poverty and injustice.
We're walking 100km. Help us make a difference.
Comfortably Numb are diamond fundraisers Help us reach our target of $10,000.donate to our team
our top online donors
- Reed Resources Ltd $1,000
Do you need Reed Resources to send over an EPIRB or Sat Phone, we can't afford to lose Maish.
- Sandhya and Craig Law $1,000
An impressive challenge gents. Wishing you a speedy finish and hope chaffing doesn't cause you too much grief. Cheers Sandhya and Craig
$1,000 can pay for the development of training materials on health issues for people in Laos.
- Natalie Berney $1,000
where does the money go?
27 August
One Sleep to Go!
This month's training was highlighted by a 55km walk from the Start to Warrimoo at St Ives which we were able to complete in 12 and a half hours. At different stages we made pain our friend (until the anti-inflammatories kicked in) with all of us having some form of niggling injury to contend with, Saint - shin splint, Mark - achilles, Ted - knee and Jelly - Bursar muscle (that's the technical term for behind the knee). We finished at 7.30 at night and felt surprisingly OK (maybe that was because we knew we didn't have to walk another 45km) although Ted was happy to keep going. Since then we started our "taper" a little early to get over the niggling injuries although Mark has continued with his 4am regime of walking the streets with a 10kg pack on his back. Our other preparations are on track with Support Crew fully engaged, checklists galore and Jelly finally delivering on power bars, skins and a nutrition plan that the Australian Institute of Sport would want to get a copy of. We have done the hard yards in training, now its up to us to Dig Deep, Walk the Walk and Just Do It! See you at the Finish!.
05 August
One month to go!!
The month's training has continued on track with a small break for school holidays although private training included walking the Adelaide "Hills", the Southern "Highlands" and altitude training at the snowfields. Training this month has also included a 20+km night walk with the cascades section looking different every time we walk it (might have someting to do with previously walking it at a king tide). A 42km walk over sections 1, 2 & 3 was a real test in which we learnt a lot about about our pace, energy use, fuel and what to wear (it gets hot during the day!). For good measure, we've thrown in a few 20+km walks through as many steep climbs as we can find (10km walks just doesn't cut it anymore). On the track there has been much debate about the merits or otherwise of poles and Jelly has relented and invested in a set of poles with Ted a late believer and the whole team now equipped, although technique for some still requires some work. Saint meantime has bought the Rolls Royce pole set to replace the cheap Italian ones he destroyed on an earlier walk. The new ones are rated to 200kg which should be enough. They give him only marginally less spring than a pair of pogo sticks and surely must come under scrutiny by officials. Mark has similarly found out the hard way that Italian poles have their limitations and managed to bend one at right angles while descending a steep climb at speed. Luckily, through others' misfortunes, there are plenty of spare parts to ensure he is not poleless for long. An expert Support Crew (the wives of course) has been assembled and are developing diet and strategies to keep us in working order, including Ted's special order of Lemon Delicious Pie at the dinner stop. Thanks to all who have supported us and donated to Oxfam, we are closing in on $10,000 in donations which is double our initial target which is brilliant.
28 June
Two months to go...
We've enjoyed a great month together preparing, buoyed on by the wonderful support from our families, friends and colleagues. Thanks again to each of you! We've gradually increased our training, with the longest walk so far being 29km over the first two stages. We've also done a couple of night walks, the highlight being tricked by a very high tide along the banks of Middle Harbour as we repeatedly lost the trail late at night. Jelly has gone to the greatest lengths to avoid a session, with a misguided effort at tree lopping causing him to damage power lines, his home and his neighbour's letter box and to miss one of our night walks as he cleaned up. And we're still waiting for his gels, his nutrition plans, and his supply of skins. On one of the walks Saint managed to destroy one of his poles by leaning on it and snapping it in half. He too has relented and invested in some proper trail shoes and a hydration pack. Mark occasionally feels the old rugby injuries, while Ted has learnt the hard way the need to stay hydrated on the long walks. Generally the tracks have been extremely wet after all the rain over the last month or more, and we're wondering how we are going to keep our feet dry to try to avoid blisters.
27 May
Three months to go...
With three months to go we're taking stock of our preparations. To date we have managed to get lost on each training walk, most recently adding 2km to a training walk of 15km. Our best hope seems to be to try to stay close to whoever is in front of us (and hope they are doing the Challenge!). Jelly (Richard) has assured us for a month that he can secure energy gels (and all sorts of other things) for significantly less than retail - still waiting. He has, however, ditched the slippers and bought himself some fancy European trail shoes. The Saint (Dave) has not had any further falls and is getting the hang of his poles, and Ted (Simon) just keeps taking it all in his stride. Mark still has no silly nickname and has taken to doing his training walks at 4am to acclimatise. We're having a great time preparing, and seeing some amazing scenery none of us knew existed, right on our doorstops!
16 May
Off and walking
We finally managed to pull the team together for our first team walk on 9 May - the 13.5km leg through some beautiful areas between Berowra and Apple Tree Bay. Jelly (Richard) showed up totally unprepared - no hat, wearing slippers, no bag - but soon demonstrated that riding 10,000 km per annum can help on a simple 13km stroll as he literally leaped up the hills crying out in joy. Interestingly, he did complain about his hip flexors, particularly on the downhill sections - something to work on in coming months. However, his experience in sitting on a bike for 3+ hours at a time meant that he was well versed in talking the whole of this walk and it would seem that we have someone in the team who can keep us awake as we stumble through the night hours. Despite trying out walking poles, the Saint (Dave), distinguished himself by not one, but two, spectacular falls. The first occurred in the creek (!) - after being warned by two of us about the slippery rocks and casually dismissing the warnings, it was slow motion, face plant into the creek. His front and shoes were totally soaked, and we were only half an hour into the walk. Second fall was also slow motion, this time backwards as he stormed down the last hill. For Ted and Mark, however, it was nice and simple and we even managed to finish the walk before it got too dark (which was good as we had not prepared for a night finish). A great start together with few harsh words and some optimism (possibly misplaced) at the end.
