Taking steps against poverty
Organisers of the Oxfam Trailwalker charity trek say they are keen to return to Taranaki after Saturday’s inaugural event in New Plymouth set new records.
A record 310 four-person teams, along with support crew, entered the endurance event, walking either 100 kilometres in
36 hours or 50 kilometres in 18 hours, and raised more than $1.1 million in donations to combat worldwide poverty.
The two-day walk, now in its
15th year in New Zealand, and previously hosted by Taupo¯ and Whakatane, is contracted to come back to New Plymouth for two more years.
Combined with an audience of
12,000 at the Crowded House concert at the Bowl of Brooklands on Saturday night, and helped by a continuing long spell of warm weather, the trailwalker event was a much-needed boost to local accommodation, retailing, and hospitality sectors.
‘‘It has been a fantastic event and we have been so welcomed by the community,’’ Oxfam New Zealand fundraising and operations director Chris Newland said.
Newland said the number of teams entered was the most for any previous Trailwalker event held in New Zealand.
The previous biggest number of teams had been 297 in 2006 when the event was held in Taupo¯ .
As well, 20 per cent of the teams entered were from Taranaki, which showed the strong local support, he said.
Newland said the amount of team donations was the highest received, and could reach $1.2m by the end of April.
‘‘Ironically the affect of lockdowns and Covid during the past year helped with people wanting to get out and do something and show their generosity towards a good cause.’’
Last year the New Plymouth District Council won a confidential tender, dipping into the $760,000 major events fund, to host the event.
New Plymouth Mayor Neil Holdom said the trailwalker and concert would help to ‘‘take the sting out’ of the impact of not hosting Womad this year.
‘‘Not having Womad this year was significant. We’re missing it for sure.
‘‘But you don’t hang your business off one weekend.
‘‘The objective was to have quality events throughout the summer to cater for everyone, including younger people who always ask, ‘What are you doing for us?’’’ he said.
The 100km and 50km courses took walkers, starting between 6am-7am, from Nga¯motu Beach through private farmland and down secluded inner city trails and back along the Coastal Walkway. While the event is not a race, a New Plymouth combination, ‘Running Girls’, were the
first 50km team to cross the line at Nga¯ motu Beach, a few minutes before 4pm on Saturday, and 20 minutes ahead of second placed ‘Hanson St Heroes’, also of New Plymouth.
‘‘We were being chased by the team of young guys who called us ‘old girls’. It kept us going faster,‘‘ team member Fiona Parkinson said.
The team of Parkinson, Helen Begg, Lisa McCready and Katherine Rottire, were also in a hurry to catch the Crowded House concert later in the evening, she said.
Parkinson said local knowledge helped the team, who have competed together in endurance events for 10 years, through some of the areas which other teams took longer to complete.
‘‘It was a really interesting course with lots of beautiful parts of the city to showcase to visitors.
‘‘It made us really proud that this was our place.’’
Team Buff were the first
100km team home, finishing at
8.14pm on Saturday in a time of 14 hours and 14 minutes.
While the bulk of teams finished early yesterday morning, other teams were still making their way along the coastal walkway into the afternoon.
At checkpoints along the way, support teams handed out food ranging from sausages to salmon sandwiches, and treated blisters and sore legs of hundreds of weary walkers.
Defence Force staffer Kat Lawrence, of Wellington’s Hingston Hotrods, and a veteran of 10 previous Trailwalkers, soldiered through the 100km course, four weeks after breaking her ankle.
‘‘I like challenging myself and doing things which have a purpose, which is what raising funds for Oxfam is about,’’ she said.
The team of Lawrence, Virgil Clare, Theresa Fisk and Kris de Lacy finished the course in 22 hours.
A Te Awamutu team of Jorga Tarrant, Ashley van der Poel, Sam Clarke and Brogen McBeth broke the 12-hour barrier in the
50km course.
‘‘We are stoked to get in under
12 hours as our preparation was not too sharp,’’ Tarrant said.