Organisers pay tribute to army of volunteers

THE cheers and applause on the day were rightly saved for the hardy walkers who had trekked throughout the night to raise money for Oxfam – but just as important were the army of volunteers who made Trailtrekker 2010 possible.

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Scores of people from across Yorkshire and beyond gave up their time to man the checkpoints, hand out drinks, greet arriving walkers and serve up well-earned bacon sandwiches to keep people going throughout the weekend.

"We simply couldn't do this event without the volunteers," said Oxfam's James Terry. "They have been absolutely fantastic.

"There have probably been around 100 helping out here in Skipton and out around the course. Just clapping and cheering the walkers is really important, but then there's all the behind the scenes work. They are worth their weight in gold.

"We've had some come up from London, we've had a group come up from Norfolk too, but I would say probably 80 per cent of them are from Yorkshire.

"They've all been fantastically enthusiastic and absolutely crucial supporters of what we're trying to do here."

The Rotary Club of Skipton Craven provided five volunteers from 5am on Saturday morning to help with a variety of essential tasks, such as guiding new arrivals to the right car parking areas

Club president Bob Hargreaves said: "I saw an article about Trailtrekker in the Yorkshire Post and thought we should get involved. We raise a lot of money for local charities as that's what our members are very keen to see us supporting - but we don't do very much for the national ones. I thought this would be a good opportunity for us to help out a national charity like Oxfam.

"It's actually been really good fun. Everyone's been

really cheerful despite the early hour. I think it's a fantastic event – if I was 50 years younger I'd probably be having a go at it myself."