By Anna Wuttke 22/05/2018
#jlftrek #challengeyourself #epic #fun #Tredwell$ #success
“Would you like to join us in an 80km trek along the Heysen Trail in the Barossa Valley?”
Sure, I thought to myself, that sounds like a fun thing to do and a good challenge. It wasn’t until after I accepted the invitation to join the Y P Glamping Trampers in the 2018 Jodi Lee Foundation SA Trek that the enormity of walking 80kms really hit me. 80kms over two days is a long way to walk.
Sure, I was fit, and yes, I liked to walk but 80kms, that is just crazy! Anyway, I’d accepted the challenge, so I set about training hard to achieve it. For months we did training walks across the Yorke Peninsula and in the Adelaide Hills, each week building up our kilometres until the trek arrived, we were ready, and we did it.
The JLF Trek is a fundraising trek organised by the Jodi Lee Foundation to raise awareness and essential funds for bowel cancer prevention. This year’s trek saw participants hike in and around Kapunda, Marrabel, Mount Crawford and Bethany along the iconic Heysen Trail. It is more than just a fundraising event though, the idea behind the trek is to give people a personal challenge, an opportunity to get fit, have fun with friends and meet new people while enjoying the camaraderie and experiencing an adventure in the great outdoors. It certainly did all of that and more.
It wasn’t without it’s challenges and at times we had to dig deep but the sense of achievement when we all crossed that finishing line made it worth it and I’m so pleased I accepted the invitation back in January to join the YP Glamping Trampers team. Now that it is done and dusted I have to say that it was one of the most motivating and inspiring experiences I’ve been a part of. So many touching stories, so much emotion, out of this world levels of determination and lots of fun. On top of that our little team from the YP raised over $8000 and the event managed to raise almost $250,000 to help give bowel cancer the boot! This wouldn’t have been possible without the generous donations of organisations such as Tredwell Management, family and friends who supported our team and all the other participants.
What an achievement.
Thank you.
Anna Wuttke, YP Glamping Tramper
