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We've raised $7,961.
$7,000 can provide chickens and materials to set up poultry farms for vulnerable women in Zimbabwe.
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30 August
We made it, 23hours, 35minutes.....
We made it to the finish line in 23hours and 35minutes.. Thankyou to everyone that sent well wishes and monitored our progress throughout the event. A special thanks to our support crew, we couldn't have made without your help, support, motivation, songs and dances. You kept us well fed, warm and moving, you truely are amazing. We finished 105/497 teams, good job team... Sub 22hours next year :)
30 August
MASSIVE thanks to all those who have donated so far
The Smarts, Helen Watson, Mario Saliba, Diana Kosseifi, Greg Copson, Bronwyn Cook, Michael Thurgood, Kristie Kirwan, Katie McCormick, Linda Franklin, Hayley Walton, Andrew Ward, Roger Abbott, Helen Robinson, Mark Stamoulis, Roger Abbott, Andrew Ward, Wolfgang Kapitza, Deb HeggatonKlenner, Zach Marks, Mel Holt, Patricia Craven, Garry Richmond, Milena Popovac, Andrea Summerell, Matthew Cook, Neil Forsyth, Judy Ward, Susan Mearns, Charmaine Simpson, Karen Whale, Annette Hoare, Brooke Holmes, Peter and Lorrain Lyons, Nicole Dibden, Corbin, Danille Richmond, Jack Lee, Mary-Anne Land, Kerry Luxton, Michael Nevin, Jenny Fardoulis, Jas & Kevin Sudlow, Daniel Craven, Naomi Thompson, Tabitha Williams, Janelle Webb, Amy Fong, Mark Dodds, Jill
27 August
Follow us on facebook
Hi all if you want further updates follow us on facebook at "A Walk in the Park" Team 500 - Oxfam Sydney 2010 http://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Walk-in-the-Park-Team-500-Oxfam-Sydney-2010/136037866424559 Currently 25mins ahead of schedule, thanks to Kev for an amazing effort!
23 August
Final Team & First Training Session for Kev
Kev had his first and we all had our final training session on Saturday. We walked from Checkpoint 1 - 2, 14kms, it was a very warm (hot) walk. It all went well and we all pulled up okay, thank goodness as we didn't have long to recover if we didn't. Its now time to get organised and start preparing our gear, food and hopefully catch up on some sleep before Friday. Thanks again Kev, we really apprecviate your help. 3 DAYS TO GO!
19 August
Unfortunately we are a man down....
We are devastated to report we are a team member down, we have lost our team trainer and pace maker :( Unfortunately Bryan has been forced to pull out after a knee injury, down the mountains. We hope he makes a speedy recovery and that we can or at least go close to maintaining the 24 hour finish time you were hoping for... Luckily Kevin has manned up and has offered to stand in at the last minute, to start; a team must have 4 members at the start line. At the time of Kev offering to help out, many months ago, im sure he never actually thought he would have to actually make a start. Thanks again Kev, hope we come out of it still friends :)
19 August
Time to go!
So last Sunday, Nat, Daniel and myself headed out determined not to be beat from the weekend before to complete Section 4 (The Sphinx) to the Finish. We set off about 7.30am and managed to finish by 4pm, with only one navigational mistake (big improvement from the week before), a storm that came over as quickly as it passed. The thought of being in between checkpoints, not particularly close to anything, with the sound of thunder and small branches falling from all directions lead to our first team jog.... it was time to go! To our surprise we all pulled up well, with only a few niggling issues, which we hope rectify their selves before the start.
09 August
Thanks goodness for our support crew....
Friday we headed out on the trail with the intention to walk from Check Point 4 (The Sphinx, War Memorial) to the end. Nat and I finally had our first training session together, this was impressive on its own. We set off at 5.45 down the trail, on what we thought would be an easy walk. Within the first 2kms, we were stuck on how to cross our first river crossing of many (in theory we should have turned around and gone home then) one tree down, excess water and we weren't so sure. Where Daniel wasn't required to carry both Nat and I over the water crossing, Daniels feet (boots)came in handy as stepping stones and we walked over his feet in the bid to not get wet feet. This was Nats first training session in the dark, and lets just say she isn't such a fan of the dark. If for nothing else, it is entertaining, watching her jump, even after you tell her there is a possum / wallaby up ahead. All in all, we had numerous incorrect turns, extremely wet and muddy feet, we think about 10kms of unnessary circles and back tracking, a flat head torch at this stage we decided to call it a night at check point 7. Thanks to our support crew who kept track of where we were, when we weren't so sure and for coming and picking us up and returning us to our cars at the wee hours of Saturday morning.. What would we do without you!
19 July
First Night Training
Our first full training session at night and it didn’t get off to a great start... Someone (not mentioning any names or Amber could get embarrassed) forgot to check to see if a borrowed head torch worked before we met at our start point - It didn’t, so with it already being 10.30pm and in the middle of nowhere, I had no choice but to walk the 25km through the bush, in the dark, without the aid of a light... Which surprisingly wasn’t too bad considering there was no moon in sight! From Loftus oval we dropped down the steep hill to Audley weir, crossed it and then made our way onto Lady Carrington Drive which is a 10km fire trail running right through the heart of the Royal National Park. It’s a damn cold valley at the best of times, let alone the dead middle of the night! I have jogged and cycled this track countless times before but always during the day and it was a very different experience at night where your sense of smell and hearing are more acute to the sounds and smells of the bush. At one stage, unbeknown to Amber, Dan kicked a stick and it flicked off into the bushes and made a rustling noise. Amber freaked, grabbed my arm and I seriously think she was about to try to jump up into one of our arms to protect herself from this ‘wild animal’ in the bushes. The last 10km home we all sung along to various songs blasting from my MP3 player. Artists included Johnny Farnham, Johnny Cash, The Beach Boys, Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson to name a few, and it would have been an interesting thing to see or hear if there happened to anyone within a 10km radius of us. A relatively easy walk for our first night training session. Was back at the car in four hours and walked about 25km. By the time I was back home about 3am I was definitely ready for bed!
13 July
Another Sunday Session – Start to Mt Kuring-Gai – 35km
It was a ridiculously early 3.25am wake up for this training session just to make sure I was home in time to see the kickoff of the Sharks game (thanks team!), and some very spirited driving on my behalf was required to ensure we made the 5.30am train from Mt Kuring-Gai to take us up to our starting point for the day at Brooklyn. It was then our mission to follow the exact route of the event trail, up and down the numerous hills (some feel like mountains), crossing rivers, jumping rocks and scaling & squeezing over and through through rock cliff faces for 35km all the way back to the car awaiting us at Mt Kuring-Gai. About 9km in we had an injury scare, with Nat falling awkwardly on her ankle, but she pushed through the pain and all appears to thankfully be OK now. Dan’s interesting variety of attire kept me amused... from ground up, new fluoro white joggers, glow orange socks, freshly waxed pale legs (claims its for cycling) three-quarter black compression tights, rolled up khaki pants hanging halfway down his butt, a white long-sleeved shirt, and to top it off, a damn good Shaggy from Scooby Doo hair impersonation... Love your work mate! It’s by far the hardest 35km of the whole event and we completed it in 6.5 hours averaging just over 5km/h – a solid days training, and all whilst one of our team members was just getting home from a big night out the night before... Congrats Kev & Jas on your engagement/wedding!
08 July
Tough Bloke / Chick Challenge - Awesome effort Nat
Last Saturday, Nat competed in the "Tough Bloke/Chick Challenge". It is a 6km off road cross-country race, starting with a 3km run, 1km of man-made obstacles including rope climbs, mud pits, flying foxes and water filled tunnels to crawl through, finished off with a 2km run with some final obstacles at the end. The last and final obstacle, appropriately called Hells Gate, is by far the hardest, a 10m rope which you need to climb along to the finish. Unfortunately I slipped off with 1m to go and incurred a 10 minute time penalty, so ended up completing it in 1hr 2mins. Glad it was you Nat and not me...
07 July
45 degrees up hill - Start to Mt Ku-Ring-Gai
It was just Bryan and I last weekend and an exceptionally cold and early morning start. We set off with the plan to walk from the start to Mt Ku-Ring-Gai, 33km. The start is never a good one, within the first 15 minutes; I was done and wondering what I have got my self into AGAIN! I spent most of the walk unsure exactly what was to come, where we were (clearly choosing to block all memories of the trail), just hoping and praying that there wasn’t another hill (small or large) coming up. Then finally Bryan tells me one last hill to go, excellent I think, until I realise the actual hill he is talking about. It is 45 degrees (possibly subject to debate, although i’m sure Lara would agree), that takes all your effort and determination to get up, at one point it was easier to walk up slowly backwards then forwards. Thank goodness 6 hours and 40 minutes later, maintaining approx 5.1km/per hour, this was the end. Only to do it again this weekend :(
21 June
Sunday Training Session – Otford to Bundeena – 30km
It was just Ambs and I that could make this training session and it was a sleepy 5am wakeup as we’d been up till the wee-hours of the morning watching the Socceroos take on Ghana (shame about the result!) Ambs caught up on some sleep on the train on the way down to Otford, but not enough to avoid whacking her head into low tree branch at the beginning of the walk... the lump is truly quite impressive! I had my share of troubles too, with my water bladder deciding to leak, resulting in my back and butt being wet the whole walk and looking like I had soiled myself from behind... Or so Amber tells me! Completed the coast track in exactly 5 hours which wasn’t a bad result considering our lack of sleep the night before – good training for the event really! We even saw a pod of whales off the coast playing around too
16 June
Training Session – Mt Kuring-Gai to Davidson Park (Checkpoint7) – 33km
The alarm went off at 3.50am on Sunday morning and awoke me from my peaceful slumber. I had to physically drag myself out of bed... The aim for today was to take two cars up north to our finishing point, Davidson Park (CP7), leave one there then all jump in the other car and head to Mt Kuring-Gai, midway between CP2 & CP3, and then follow the event trail for 33km back to the first car. This was Nat’s (our newest team member) first training session with us and from the numerous hills, through to the constant rock-hopping and river crossings, it was a real eye opener on what to expect on the trail. I am not one to usually feel the cold, but it was freezing! I even wore a jumper for the first 5km – which is unheard of! We pushed on through the dawn mist rising from the water and through the valleys and averaged about 5km/h for the 33km, completing the session in 6.5 hours. All-in-all, a successful training day!
07 June
Trivia night was a huge success
We raised just over $4900....... with our Trivia Night on Saturday. The night started off with a heads or tails game, just to warm everyone up for what was ahead. A few easy rounds of questions and then the pressure was on for toss the coin, who would win the Champers and the Chivas and most importantly take out the Winning Table...Congratulations to “Team Tom”. A big THANK YOU to everyone who attended and/or donated prizes, without your support the evening would not have been a success.
01 June
Finally - we have a 4th team member
Welcome to the team Nat!!!
24 May
First training on the trail (section 1 & 2)
It was a cold and wet 4.15am wake up in order for us to be up at the Hawkesbury and on the trail by 7am. This was our first training walk on the trail, and we had sections 1 & 2 to complete (only a mere 30kms, but by far the hardest two sections of the trail) We set off at a cracking pace, averaging over 7km/h for the first 9km, but then the next 21km of steep climbs and descents took its toll on our pace and dropped it down to average just over 5km/h. Still not bad to finish the 30km in 5.5 hours, and actually beat our time expectations for these sections. This has given us a good vote of confidence in meeting our finishing time target this year! Three months of hard training to go, should be ‘a walk in the park’ by then :)
05 May
Leisurely Sunday Stroll - Otford to Bundeena
Off we set with a 6am start, to try and miss the midday heat. Jas stepped up to the mark and joined us for the day, granted when poor Jas asked if she could join us, she thought she was signing up for 10km, not quite the 27km.... We set a good pace and made in back with some time to spare for a quick drink at the RSL before the 1:00pm ferry. We are yet to hear if Jas is going to back up and join us for another training session...
27 April
Trivia Night
Join us for a great night of trivia, fun and games to help raise money for Oxfam. To help us meet our fundraising target, please get a table together for a guaranteed night of fun with lots of prizes. We are walking 100km and are hoping to finish in 24hours on the last weekend of August. When: Saturday 5th June 2010 Time: 7:00pm Where: Mortdale RSL 25 Macquarie Place, Mortdale NSW 2223 Tickets: Seating arrangements will be tables of 10 $250 per table or $30 per person Food & Drinks will be available from the bistro & bar Nibbles will be provided on each table RSVP: 22 May 2010 Contact: Bryan 0403 303 321 Daniel 0421 839 819 Amber 0409 812 712 To secure your table payment must be received by 22 May 2010
15 April
Training has started... for some of us
Training has started for half the team, with a nice picturesque walk from Otford to Bundeena. It was an early morning start, to try and miss the mid day heat unfortunately it was still a very hot walk. We have a long way to go and need to pick up, if we even want to go close to finishing in 24 hours, but a nice way to ease into training.
