OXFAM Trailwalker Japan 2008

The OXFAM Trailwalker Japan 100km challenge was an event not to be forgotten.

Four friends took on a personal challenge to complete this race as well as to raise money for charity.

Training took the form of climbing HDB blocks and the bukit timah nature reserve relentlessly with a backpack of full load. We did this for several months, forgetting the mucsle aches and joint pains with the main goal of "suffer now, enjoy later". The training that we endure would eventually allow us to enjoy our hike and the scenery subsequently in Japan. Little did we know that we were sorely mistaken.

We had grossly under estimated the route in Japan. The 100km comprised of unforgiving, undulating terrain which was unrelentless till the very end. Mountains after mountains, up hill and down hill and up again. This created a toll on the knees of one of the team members only just after the 1st checkpoint. The only refuge we had was the cool temperature which took away much of the toll. The beautiful scenery provided solace during the day but was only company when the sun was still shining. That was when the real challenge began... ...

The hike during the night was the "make or break" part of the hike. The team ended the first day at checkpoint four at approximately 8pm where we had a 2 hour rest. We loaded our stomachs with chocolates, bread, instant pasta and instant noodles. OXFAM provided a massage service with volunteers from a nearby sports school. The rest provided little comfort as we all knew that we had to start walking very soon. During the first part of the night hike, we found a hot coffee vending machine and took a break. This was when we really appreciated the country of a million vending machines......too bad they didn't put one selling batteries on the hike route as one of our member's headlamps started to fail from low batt. She had to rely on the light of the other members to navigate the trail. At one part of the trail, there was a 200m drop just a step right and not having a light then was a suicidal act.

We climbed and decended and climb and decended throughout the night with little break. 26 hours into the race, 50km and after consuming an entire box of panadol later, a member had such tremendous pain in the knee that he had to call it a day and stop while he can still recover to face this challenge at a later date.

All in all, the OXFAM trailwalker Japan 2008 100km challenge was a unforgettable trip and this blogger will someday hope to finish Japan and take on the New Zealand trailwalkers. For more infomation, please email your questions to 98736429@bigfoot.com