23 hours 41 minutes 37 seconds

Sleep deprivation, blisters and 2.5 marathons back to back. Of course, I'd love to!

To survive a 100km non-stop endurance event in the bush, it helps to have team-mates with good humour, determination and gratitude.

You’ll see each other at your best – and worst. You'll become a tight bunch; the type who finish off each other’s sentences.

You'll devote endless hours to fundraising, preparation and training.

You'll start the race all unicorns and rainbows, then find yourself running through the dark in silence at 3am because you are too sore to walk and too tired to talk. Your hips will be jammed. Your knees will be screaming. And you will wonder what the hell you were thinking 6 months earlier.

But Big Girls Don't Cry.

Oxfam Australia’s flagship event has raised an incredible $100 million since the inaugural event was held in Sydney in 1999.

On the last weekend in March, thousands of enthusiastic teams from across Victoria would have taken part in the 21st annual Melbourne event, raising vital funds to tackle poverty and inequality across the globe.

As I try to shake off my lockdown boredom, developing countries are hurtling towards a coronavirus catastrophe. Millions (more) people will be plunged into poverty.

It's hard to think of anything more important now than international aid.

So where did it all begin?

Trailwalker started way back in 1981 in Hong Kong as an endurance training exercise for soldiers, organised by the Queen’s Gurkha Signals Regiment of the British Army.

Major Lee of 246 Squadron encouraged his men to walk the entire length (100km) of MacLehose Trail, Hong Kong’s first long-distance hiking trail, within 24 hours.

Captain G Collinon, a military transport officer in the Gurkha Field Force, suggested turning the feat into a charity fundraising exercise.

So on 4 December 1981, Exercise Trail Walker took place. Fifty-five military teams of four set off at 5pm from Pak Tam Chung for the finish line at Perowne Barracks in Tuen Mun. The cut-off time was 48 hours and there were nine checkpoints along the route.

It’s not known how many teams finished or what the fastest time was, but what mattered was HK$80,000 was raised.

Although military interest in Trailwalker grew over the years, the funds raised dwindled. The solution: open the race to the public!

Flashback to 5 years ago when I lined up with 2,840 runners and hikers and was flagged off (in the third wave, 2 hours after the official start) from the foothills of Mt Little Joe (a 469m mini mountain) in the Warburton Valley.

710 teams ready to take on the gruelling challenge of completing one of the world’s leading endurance events within a set time limit. Made more difficult with a brand new, reversed trail.

Even seasoned participants and the first team across the line were slowed down by the terrain – a trail with twists and turns and ascents and descents along rugged bush tracks. Through fern-lined gullies, grass clearings, rich and ancient swathes of towering gums, the pristine forests of the Dandenong Ranges and the infamous 1000 Steps.

The snakes were there, heard but rarely seen. The echidnas stayed well hidden.

Some walkers carried clever little things like salt (for removing leeches) and luxury items like boiled eggs, iPods and glow sticks.

My team of 4 wore hydration packs and shiny new trail shoes. We each carried hiking poles, 2 litres of water, snacks, gaiters, spare socks, thermals, first-aid essentials, spare batteries, a mobile phone and a map.

Our support crew carried everything else: blankets, chairs, foam rollers, warm clothes, extra shoes, water and nutritious food. They set-up at each of the seven checkpoints at all times of the day and night.

Struggle town came at the 50km mark. Grumpy. Groggy. Babbling.

But with the right team, anything is possible. We'd committed to the fundraising challenge; we could smash the physical, with a little help from the trail angels – those high-fiving, loud-cheering, big-smiling volunteers with their crazy outfits and buckets of chocolate.

And our foot-rubbing, hugging, sustenance-giving support crew.

Then daylight, the finish line and the triumphant sprint to the end.

23 hours, 41 minutes, 37 seconds.*

* Big Girls Don’t Cry crossed the Jells Park finish line in 118th place with all 4 team members (only 417 of the 710 teams managed to do so). The winning team took 10 hours, 32 minutes. The last team over the line spent 2 nights on the trail and closed off the event after 41 hours and 58 minutes.