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CHARITY EVENT: TRAILWALKER 23/24 JULY 2016

The Gurkha/Oxfam Trailwalker challenge takes place over the weekend of 23/24 July 2016. Starting from Queen Elizabeth Country Park near Petersfield, Hampshire the challenge is for teams of four to cross 100km (62.5 miles) of the South Downs in the fastest time possible and within the 30-hour maximum time limit. The whole team must cover the entire distance by starting together, sticking together, navigating overnight and finishing together. It’s the equivalent of completing almost two-and-a-half marathons and climbing Ben Nevis in one session all without any rest.

We are participating again this year in team "Take It Easy " to raise funds for the Gurkha Welfare Trust and OXFAM. Thanks to your generosity we have raised tens of thousands of Pounds for these very worthy causes. Trailwalker was started in 1981 by the Gurkha’s in Hong Kong as a training exercise combining teamwork and endurance and is now held in seven countries. It was introduced to the UK along the South Downs in 1997 and is now one of the country’s largest ultra marathons with around 500 teams competing this year.

Funds raised from Trailwalker are used to support the work of the Gurkha Welfare Trust and Oxfam. Both organisations share a vision – to tackle poverty and suffering and to improve the lives of the poor and in the most poverty stricken parts of the world. The Gurkha Welfare Trust works in Nepal with Gurkha ex-soldiers and their wider communities who have suffered appalling hardship following the two devastating earthquakes in April and May 2015.  Funds are urgently needed to rebuild their homes and schools. The courage, loyalty and bravery of “Johnny Gurkha” is legendary but without help from the Gurkha Welfare trust they and their families would be destitute. The tiny landlocked country of Nepal is considered to be a walker’s paradise-with the snow-capped Himalayas, fresh, clean air and a warm hearted and friendly population but behind this picture-postcard image, Nepal has many serious problems. It is the fourth poorest country in the world, and almost half of its population live in extreme poverty. Sixty-four per cent of the population cannot read or write but thanks to the funds raised by Trailwalker new schools are being built providing a better future for the Nepalese children, many of whom trudge for one or two hours every day up the steep Himalayan slopes to attend school.

 OXFAM works in more than 80 countries worldwide, helping poor communities to build a better future, providing emergency water and sanitation to hundreds of thousands of displaced peoples throughout the world. Funds are desperately needed to support global emergencies - £2,500 could fund an emergency water tower to supply a refugee camp with 45,000 litres of safe clean water.

When you are on your last legs and wonder why on earth you decided taking on the formidable Trailwalker challenge, you carry on in the knowledge that what you are going through is a normal daily experience for millions of the world’s poorest people, who have to walk similar distances to find water and food to survive.

Please supportus if you can as it's a great cause.  Thank you and best wishes