Nepal Health Mega Marathon : 1 July 2010

Hikers conquer mountain for disadvantaged

The Westerner (Brisbane) - Thursday, 1 July 2010
Source: Lee Oliver

Kylie Gilbert and Ray Baker completed a 24-hour hike in the forests of Mt Glorious to raise money to improve health care services in Nepal.

If you were feeling a bit cold laying in bed last Saturday night, spare a thought for Ray Baker and Kylie Gilbert.
The pair spent an entire day and night hiking 100km through the rainforests of Mt Glorious to raise money to provide better health care for impoverished people in Nepal.
Mr Baker, from Kedron, and Ms Gilbert, from Chapel Hill, completed four 25km circuits of trails in 24 hours to support the Nepal Australia Friendship Association (NAFA) to assist health projects abroad.
“NAFA has been going now since about 1989 and they do great work for the disadvantaged of Nepal with their projects over there,” said Mr Baker, a hiking tour operator.
“They have a lot of projects, not only health, but when I devised this walk I requested that all funds that we raise go to their health projects.
“I’ve been going to Nepal to over 30 years now and that’s one particular area where disadvantaged people don’t get the care that they need.
“In many cases it’s a matter of life and death, particularly in remote areas where the health care is nil.”
Mr Baker said the biggest challenge of the hike, covering around 4.5km each hour, was the terrain and the fact half the total walk was uphill.
“It’s a reasonably steady pace but you’ve got to remember of the 100km, 50km of that is uphill,” said Mr Baker, who has been hiking at Mt Glorious for 15 years.
“We basically start at the top of Mt Glorious, walk right down the southern side of it (the mountain) to the bottom and walk back up on a fire trail.
“It’s an extremely challenging walk and the two big challenges are one, the distance, and two, staying awake – so we have lots of coffee.
“We were training for it for about six months and we’ve been doing a lot of endurance-type training.”
Despite having “blisters on my blisters”, Ms Gilbert said the walk was worth the effort.
“We had NAFA supporters there at the end of each circuit feeding us and giving us massages and lots of supporters at the end for brekkie,” she said.  “It was a fantastic experience”
The pair’s colleagues, Jeff Dunn and Suzanne Chambers, also took part in the hiking fundraisier.
Mr Baker said the date of the endurance walk was chosen to coincide with the full moon, to maximise visibility for the hikers.
To find out more about the Nepal Australia Friendship Association and the health projects it supports visit http://www.nafa.org.au/