Barefoot challenge
Adventure raises $10k to provide shoes for students
Pals Vini Williams and Jack Keeys aren’t the sort to sit around with their feet up. The ex-paeroa friends decided to put their tootsies to the test and raise money for underprivileged children by walking barefoot for 100km in five days — and they’ve just returned.
Their actual time — due to unforeseen circumstances — turned out to be 113km in 101 hours but the pair are proud as punch and have raised nearly $10,000.
The two paired up to create fundraiser Barefoot for a Future to raise money for sports and school shoes for students here and in Africa partnering with the Salvation Army.
In the lead-up Vini and Jack pounded the pavement in bare feet — to toughen up trotters — and set off for their April adventure. They completed two of New Zealand’s Great Walks barefoot, starting with the Abel Tasman Coast Track in the South Island followed by Lake Waikaremoana Great Walk in the north.
“The most difficult parts were at the end of day one and the end of day five,” Jack says.
“We had to push through some significant mental and physical barriers when walking in the dark, completely exhausted, no service, cold, sore and not sure how long we had to go.
“But what kept us going was that we knew there are so many young Kiwis who could be both inspired and impacted by us finishing and raising the money, and we knew that long-term impact was worth our short-term pain.”
The tired travellers slept in huts after tending to their battered feet at night.
“We took a first aid kit each and they both got used.
Needles to burst fluid pouches in swollen feet, bandages and plasters for cut feet, tweezers for splinters, and lots of antiseptic.” Jack says one day they collapsed on the tracks more than once.
“It’s difficult to articulate how challenging that day was, hobbling on exhausted muscles, raw feet and in the cold and dark with heavy packs and still more to go.” They walked for three-four hours at a time with 30 minute rests, realising that short walks and breaks just made their muscles cold and it was better to do strong segments and allow time for proper refuelling.
Jack says at one point he ran directly into a pig and they both squealed. Vini slit his foot on the final day, which in combination with large open blisters and swollen ankles, left him in a rough way. But they pushed on.
“Many people have since