Trailwalker

Oxfam Trailwalker (Hong Kong) logo.
End point of 2011 HK Trailwalker 2011

Trailwalker or Oxfam Trailwalker and the related Trailtrekker are fundraising endurance events conducted across the world by Oxfam, in which teams of four competitors must complete a course of 100 kilometres (62 mi) in a set time limit - typically between 24 and 48 hours. The routes may be point-to-point or follow a circular route returning to the start.

History

The event was established in 1981 by Brigadier Mervyn Lee in Hong Kong as a training exercise by the Queen's Gurkha Signals, part of the Brigade of Gurkhas of the British Army, which was at the time based in the British colony. In 1986, teams of civilians were allowed to take part and Oxfam Hong Kong was invited to co-organise the event.[1]

In 1997, with the handover of Hong Kong to China, the Gurkha regiments were relocated to the United Kingdom. The Trailwalker event followed the Gurkhas' relocation and was organised over the South Downs in Sussex, with Oxfam in the UK acting as partner since 2002, alongside the Gurkha Welfare Trust. Oxfam Hong Kong continued to organise the original event without the Gurkhas and the event has grown with 15 events now taking place in 11 countries worldwide.[2]

Events

Country Location Start Finish Time Limit Year
Hong Kong Maclehose Trail Pak Tam Chung, Sai Kung Yuen Long 48 hours 1981
United Kingdom Trailwalker South Downs Petersfield Brighton Racecourse 30 hours 1997
United Kingdom Trailtrekker Yorkshire Dales Skipton Skipton 30 hours 2009
Ireland Trailtrekker Newcastle, County Down Donark Park Carlingford 30 hours 2009
Australia Sydney Hawkesbury River Seaforth 48 hours 1999
Australia Melbourne Jells Park, Wheelers Hill Wesburn Park, Yarra Valley 48 hours 2003
Australia Brisbane Mt Glorious Mt Coot-tha 48 hours 2011
Australia Perth Darlington Lesmurdie 48 hours 2013
New Zealand Lake Taupo Kinloch Taupo 36 hours 2006
Japan Odawara City Lake Yamanaka 48 hours 2007
Belgium High Fens Eupen Eupen 30 hours 2008
France Parc du Morvan, Bourgogne 30 hours 2010
Germany Spessart Bad Orb Bad Orb 30 hours 2010
Spain Girona Olot Sant Feliu de Guíxols (Costa Brava) 32 hours 2011
India Bengaluru Anekal or Mekedaatu Eagelton-Bidadi 48 hours 2012
India Mumbai Mulshi Lake Lonavala 48 hours 2012

Common rules

There are some common rules across all the Trailwalker and Trailtrekker events.

Macau TrailWalker

In mid-2010, Upward Bound Unlimited (UBU),[3] a Macau-based company which organizes sports tourism events in the Pearl River Delta region, and Macau's main English-language daily newspaper, the Macau Daily Times, announced that a cross-country hiking event called "Macau TrailWalker"[4] would be held later in the year with the support of the local Macau authorities.[5] The event was held on 9 October 2010[6] on the outer island of Coloane and consisted of a 30 km category and a 12 km category.

Prior to the event, Oxfam Hong Kong issued a press release stating among other things that it was not associated with the event or any of its organizers (nor had it been contacted by them), that it did not approve nor endorse the event, that no sponsorship money from the event would be used in any Oxfam aid work, and that it "reserved the right to take appropriate legal action to protect the Trailwalker name".[7]

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/28/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.