Oxfam promises to build on trek's fantastic support

OXFAM has pledged its 100km Trailtrekker walk will continue to be an annual fixture in the Yorkshire calendar after the storming success of this year's event.

Full Trailtrekker coverage with video and live blog

Runners and times in full

Organisers expect this weekend's trek to raise at least 350,000 for the charity to spend on vital aid projects in developing and disaster-hit nations around the world, and hope to continue to grow the event over the coming years.

"It's gone really well," said Oxfam's sponsored events manager James Terry. "It's been a fantastic effort by everyone. It's an annual event now and it's something we hope the people of Skipton and across Yorkshire will be proud of.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"It's a huge fundraiser for us, but it's also one of those things that's more than the sum of its parts. You see all the volunteers and the support teams and the people taking part, and it creates amazing goodwill for Oxfam. Pretty much everyone associated with the event goes away feeling they have been part of something really life-changing."

Mr Terry, who himself walked the 62-mile course back in February – when temperatures fell to minus-10C at night – paid tribute to the hundreds of walkers who took part in this year's event.

"I feel very emotional when I see them finishing," he said. "It's quite hard to keep it in sometimes. The amounts of money people are raising, the amount of training they've put in – and then to keep going all through the night is just amazing.

"These guys are the real heroes of Trailtrekker. The people finishing, and also the people who don't manage to make it all the way around, usually through no fault of their own.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"It's great we've got a local team who finished the course in 17 hour and 10 minutes, and hats off to them for doing that, but they've clearly done this kind of thing before. The guys coming in after 28, 29 hours, a lot of them have never done anything like this. Hopefully they'll remember it in a positive way for the rest of their life – because it is a huge achievement."

The Trailtrekker course was altered slightly at a late stage this year so that walkers would not climb to the very summit of iconic Pen-y-ghent, due to problems with footpath erosion. But Mr Terry said the course remains one of the toughest treks in the country.

"It's a hardcore event," he said. "It's pretty much the ultimate team challenge in the UK. There's been some pretty bad blistering and a lot of pain to go through.

"Hopefully in the next few days people will be over the worst and feeling positive about what they've achieved."

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The money raised by the walkers will now be placed in a fighting fund for Oxfam to spend on front-line aid projects wherever they are needed.

"The money is absolutely worth its weight in gold because it's something we can spend on our own priorities," Mr Terry said.

"A lot of Oxfam's money comes from institutional donors, and it's agreed a long time in advance exactly what the money has to go towards. That's fantastic and really valuable, but to actually have money for whatever is the greatest need at the time we receive the income is really important.

"For example, there's a big tropical storm blowing in south Asia at the moment. Hopefully that will blow itself out without doing too much damage – but if not, the money being raised here could go towards people being impacted by that."

Top 20 teams for fundraising

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

ElevenEleven - 8,990; Camp Squad - 5,731; Hen Pecked - 3,609; Shaken Not Stirred! 2,550; Stride's Ahead: 2,430; The In-betweeners: 2,332; Mother's Pride - 2,147; The 4 Amigos - 1,867; The Rail Trekkers - 1,788; Out Of This World 2 - 1,725; Over The Hill - 1,625; Team TrailtrekkersaurusRex - 1,568; The Yorkshire Puddings - 1,450; The Lost Climbers - 1,446;

Blokes & a Bird - 1,430;

Dalesway Delinquents - 1,318; Equity Red Star - 1,252; Short Strides Deliver Distance - 1,230; Netherhall Old Boys - 1,185; Team Bring It - 1,163.

Figures to date released yesterday by Oxfam.

Related topics: