So You Think You Can Walk?

Oxfam Trailwalker Canada 2010 is a team fundraising challenge like no other – a 100-km hike through the Ganaraska Trail in under 48 hours.

Ashley Fraser knows the grueling challenge of Trailwalker. Ashley and her teammates – Denine Ellis, Jillian Fairley and Andrea McCarthy – came in first place at the inaugural fundraising event last year.

“We had a lot of fun,” says Ashley, an engineering graduate student at University of Toronto. “The Ganaraska Trail is a beautiful landscape, and there were silly moments, like crawling over fences and wading through really high grass. It was a friendly and pleasantly competitive atmosphere.”

This year’s Trailwalker, beginning July 23, is a 100-km hike through sections of the Ganaraska Trail from Barrie all the way to Orillia. The 48-hour hike is all about teamwork; teams must start together, go through each checkpoint together and cross the finish line together.

“Everybody had their lull at different points, and your team motivates you. We relied on one another for emotional and physical support,” says Ashley, whose team, Team Body Battle, raised almost $5,000 for Oxfam Canada.

Walking 100 km in 48 hours might be about the physical and mental challenge for the participants, but for Oxfam Canada it’s a way to fund life-changing work in developing countries.

The first Trailwalker took place in Hong Kong in 1981 as a military training exercise. Trailwalker has become one of Oxfam’s biggest fundraisers, with events in the U.K., New Zealand, Australia, Japan and Belgium, and Trailwalker has raised more than $70 million worldwide to support Oxfam’s work.

Oxfam Trailwalker Canada 2010 begins in Barrie on July 23 and ends in Orillia on July 25.

For photos of Team Body Battle or more information about participating or volunteering, please contact Karen Palmer at karenp@oxfam.ca or 613-240-3047 or visit www.oxfamtrailwalker.ca