Trailwalking for Oxfam
8th May 2018

A team from EMPLAS will be among the hundreds of competitors being put through their paces in the Trailwalker challenge.

Held from the 13th-15th July, the charity fundraiser, is based around a challenging 100km course across the South Downs, which must be completed by a team of four, plus a support crew of two, within 30 hours or less.

Making up the Emplas Team are Managing Director, Ryan Johnson; National Sales Manager, Jody Vincent; Damian Morphett, Senior Estimator; and Damian Smith, Surveyor, T&K Home Improvements. Their two man support crew is made up by Kush Patel, Deputy Managing Director and Sales Director John Leary.

“It’s a fairly demanding course,” said Damian Smith. “Anyone who knows the South Downs will recognise straight away that it’s not just the distance that makes it such a challenge but the changes in altitude you encounter along the way.

“The challenge and any bumps, sprains and scrapes along the way are, however, worth it because all monies raised go to Oxfam and will support its continuing work to tackle extreme poverty and famine around the world.

The first Trailwalker event was held in the UK in 1998. The course passes through nine checkpoints across the South Downs from Portsmouth before ending in Brighton.

The course record was set in 2004 by the Queen's Own Gurkha Logistics Regiment which completed the 100km distance in 9 hours 50 minutes. This compares to a course average of 27 hours.

MD Ryan Johnson added: “Our official qualification target is £1,000 but I’m certain that we can go far beyond this and we’ve set ourselves our own target of raising a minimum of £3,000.”

https://www.justgiving.com/companyteams/emplas-tandk