Participants in this weekend's Oxfam Trailwalker Brisbane event could be forgiven for thinking they were seeing double thanks to a team that completed both the 100km and 55km events back-to-back on Friday and Saturday.
The Oxfam Trailwalker Brisbane 2019 event has come to an end, with about 900 participants so far raising more than $665,000 for Oxfam's work tackling global poverty. The event challenges teams of four to walk or run 100km in 48 hours or less, or 55km in 24 hours or less.
Having set out at 7am Friday from Mt Glorious, the last team to cross the Mt Coot-tha finish line 100km later was team Slothie and the Jets, after a stoic 37 hours and 55 minutes. The fastest 100km team and first to finish was The Wanderers, who finished as a team of three after about 15 hours 30 minutes on the trail.
Team Double Or Nothing were the first team of four to complete the 100km trail, crossing the finish line in the early hours of Saturday morning after 17 hours and 36 minutes.
The team then caught some shut-eye before heading to Lake Manchester at dawn on Saturday for the start of the 55km event. Double Or Nothing finished the 55km event in 11 hours and 37 minutes, in doing so likely clocking many of the teams still walking the 100km.
Double Or Nothing team leader and Cabarlah resident Chris Rutland said his team were experienced Trailwalkers who had been inspired to take on the two events after finishing first in last year's 100km event.
"We finished first last year and thought let's give it another go and see if we can step it up another level," he said.
Mr Rutland said the team – David Wirth, Ricky Ellis, Stephen Page and himself – had been training extensively and it was important that they had worked well together before hitting the trail.
While about 240 teams took part in the 100km and 55km events on the weekend, Double Or Nothing were the only team to have attempted both, Oxfam Trailwalker spokesperson Adam Walsh said.
"Having completed both events as a team of four, Double Or Nothing now go down in Oxfam Trailwalker history as being the first Brisbane team to do this," Mr Walsh said.
"This sort of teamwork is what the spirit of Oxfam Trailwalker is all about - teams of four have to rely on each other in the lead up to the event, not just during the event."
Mr Walsh thanked the fundraising efforts of all Brisbane teams this year, including the event's highest fundraiser team.
"Our highest fundraising team this year was the Babbling Babes, whose members raised more than $12,000," Mr Walsh said.
"We congratulate all teams for supporting the work Oxfam does around the world."
