Charity motivates duo in 100km walk

Katherine Dyer and Nikki Friar will be walking 100km for the second time to raise money for charity. Photo / Supplied

A Tauranga woman says it is an adrenaline addiction that keeps her going back to take on the huge physical and mental challenge of an 100km walk.

Katherine Dyer is not alone, taking on the Oxfam Trailwalker for the third time alongside her three teammates, among hundreds of other teams.

"It's the hardest thing I've ever done but it's addictive. It's a real challenge," she said.

"The first 10km you're pretty optimistic but then you realise how slow the kilometres go by because each k has a marker."

The annual charity fundraising walk will trail around the north side of Lake Taupo this year, celebrating the event's 10th anniversary.

A sprained ankle at the 10km mark last year meant Miss Dyer was forced to pull out having only walked 16km. This year she hoped to complete her unfinished business.

Training had already started with multiple short walks a week and one day-long walk every Saturday as a team.

"It's the longer ones that are really the training because it's just about being on your feet for a long time," Miss Dyer said.

She said changing their socks at every checkpoint was the feet-saving trick.

"You've gotta look after your feet because that's what gets you there but they're not looking very pretty by the end."

Walking through the night was both physically and mentally demanding and the team members had to talk each other along at different points, she said.

"The physical pain is quite bad. Everything is aching, you haven't slept and the mental challenge to get through that too.

"It's pretty hard but it feels amazing when you finish it."

It took her team 27 hours to complete the 100km walk in 2013 and just shy of 30 hours in 2014. Miss Dyer hoped this year they would crack the 24-hour mark.

Teammate and second-time Oxfam Trailwalker Nikki Friar believed smothering their feet in vaseline at each stop saved them from the blisters many others got.

She said it was knowing the pain was for a good cause that inspired her a second time. "When you go to bed it's all you think about. It's like, 'why am I doing this again?'."

She said she was lucky not to suffer hypothermia in 2012 when the overnight temperature reached about -2C.

"You're walking as fast as you can but by that point it's not very fast." Walking across the finish line after 100km of walking felt "incredible", Miss Friar said.

"That's the best part when you get to that last checkpoint ... you feel a million dollars."

The team were looking for creative ways to fundraise the minimum of $2000 and hoped people would get behind their team 'She'll be Right' on the Oxfam Trailwalker website.