While many of us would have been resting on the sofa watching TV this weekend, our Rabina Shrestha was hiking 100km as part of the Gurkha Welfare Trust 100KM Trailwalker challenge. She was supported by our Raphaelle Davies – what a dream team!
Read Rabina’s account of this amazing event:
Over the weekend, I, along with my incredible team, Dudh Bhaat (which means milk and rice) conquered the Gurkha Welfare Trust 100KM Trailwalker challenge, walking time of 21 hours and 56 minutes with a lot of ‘rest’ in between simply ‘enjoying’ the incredible journey. We had 7 other teams from our running crew all of whom crossed the finish line in one piece.
We kicked off the weekend by camping at Queen Elizabeth Country Park in Petersfield on Friday evening, to then take off around 7.30am on Saturday morning, as we headed to Brighton Racecourse. We took it checkpoint to checkpoint at a time, which was approx. 10km in between, anything to persuade your mind to keep going! To put it in perspective, the distance itself is like walking from Sandwich all the way to London City but with A LOT of elevation. The journey was beautiful with a lot of walking, jokes, questioning our decisions, deep conversations, reminiscing old memories, taking in the incredible scenery, a lot of puddles, holding onto barbed wires to cross said puddles, a lot of silence, moody looks and grunts, a lot of hot drinks, snacks, cooked food, quick massages and just digging deep to get to the finish line. I had some sort of blood blisters at around the 70km mark, which I managed to treat and push through. Unfortunately, the blisters ended up popping at around the 91km mark and so the last 9km was a pure struggle but thinking about the end goal made it bearable!
This was really the ultimate team endurance event - a true test of camaraderie, mental fortitude, and physical stamina, as we aimed to complete the course in under 30 hours. All in all, very proud of my team and thankful to everyone for the love and support.
We were incredibly blessed with the weather as it managed to stay dry the whole time however the cold during the night was something else, even with my four layers! I really do mean it when I say, we could not have done this without the guidance, support and training organised by members of Runderbolts. Further, we definitely would not have made it to the finish line without our AMAZING support crew, which consisted of family and friends, which included our very own Raphaelle Davies. From fuelling us, to their words of encouragement and just being with us at every step, they were fantastic. They would meet us at each checkpoint and were ready to do anything and everything for us! They had even prepared a special dance performance at the fifth checkpoint which kept morale high! I truly felt blessed and so grateful that they took the time out to come and follow us on this journey. Facetiming my family members and seeing smiles from my niece Amo made it extra special. I’ll be forever grateful to each of you.
The Gurkha Welfare Trust team were also incredible with the support throughout this journey. The vibes at the checkpoints were amazing, it was lovely seeing volunteers dressed in Nepali outfits.
We did all of this in an effort to support the Gurkha Welfare Foundation Trust, who provide vital support to Gurkha veterans, their families and communities in Nepal. Any donation you may be able to make, big or small, would be greatly appreciated. The link is here for anyone wanting to donate: https://trailwalker.enthuse.com/pf/runderbolts-dudh-bhaat
I have attached a few photos to show snippets of this incredible journey. What’s next, I hear you ask? Watch this space!
Dhanyebad.