Deciding to participate in an event described as “the ultimate physical and mental challenge” was, well, slightly outside my comfort zone to say the least!

The Oxfam Trailwalker involves a team of 4 people walking 100km in less than 30 hours. The route starts just north of Portsmouth, snakes across the South Downs and finishes in Brighton. It has 6,600 feet of ascent which includes three very memorable hills! There are plenty of challenge events out there that you can do on your own but Trailwalker is not one of them. The whole point is to get the whole team round. We certainly discovered en route who was strong uphill, who was good at navigation, what motivated each of us and where our individual weak points were (my right knee!).  However, I am really proud to say that The All Steels Trading team hobbled in together completing the brutal continuous trek in 28 hours and 43 minutes. There’s no doubt that we couldn’t have finished without each other’s support. What great team camaraderie and unswerving stamina displayed – hooray!!!

 

  

We crossed that finish line feeling exhausted but triumphant, and of course very grateful that we lead lives where a long trek like this can be treated as a challenge, rather than a necessity. At All Steels Trading we are still celebrating and recovering from our efforts! However, we wish to say thanks so much for all the support and generous sponsorship given by our business friends because together we raised in excess of £3000 for Oxfam and the Gurkha Welfare Trust. For me, the Trailwalker Challenge had a bit of everything, ups and downs of all kinds. From an overall positive angle I will never forget it but I will also never, ever, do the Oxfam Trailwalker UK again!

Laurence McDougall
(MD All Steels Trading Ltd)