Hola Kiwi-Family,
I did the Oxfam Trailwalker in Melbourne 2 years ago and had very similar thoughts to yourself when deciding to do it. Having done the Camino it certainly helped physically and mentally, however it's a very different experience!
I completed the 100km in 37 hours, 15 minutes with the full team still walking which was really great. The biggest piece of advise I have is to prep and train as much as possible if you decide to do it...
A few thoughts:
- Train with your team together as often as you can to get the feel of walking with each other, and set some ground rules for the day. eg. You can only go as fast as your slowest person (and that's ok), always stay in sight of one another, if someone drops out will the rest of the team? etc . so on the day it's really clear what the expectations are.
- Try to train on as much of the trail as possible, particularly the sections you'll walk overnight. If you can also train on those in the dark it makes a huge difference during the challenge as it's not a surprise and you know exactly where you're going with your little pool of light from the headlamp. We encountered a few teams battling overnight because they had never trained in the dark and it was really hard for them.
- We all carried a small backpack with water, fruit, trail mix etc. and any weather related gear we might need. So for us it was a Goretex jacket (we had some rain), gloves, beanies, headlamp (for the evening) and loads of sunscreen for the daytime. A small first aid kit with strong painkillers was well worth carrying too as your legs/feet will probably start to ache towards the end. The packs didn't exceed 2-3kg as you're carrying them for so long, and I had a small Aarn pack with a waist strap to keep the load on my hips which helped a lot.
- Your support crew will mean everything to you! Unlike the Camino where after 30km you can stop, shower, eat and rest up for 8-10 hours on Oxfam you have to keep going and having a friendly face at each checkpoint goes a long way particularly in the final stages. Make sure they're well stocked with food, water, chairs and anything else you might need (a change of clothes is fantastic!)
Overall it's a really fun and rewarding experience, but I wasn't quite prepared for how difficult the final 30km was when it changed from a physical challenge to a mental one as sleep deprivation kicked in. Not to mention the fact your body has been going non-stop for over 24 hours so it does hurt a bit! But crossing that finish line is an amazing feeling and I do recommend giving it a shot.
And at the end of the day, it's for an awesome cause and helps people in need which we used to motivate us a lot in the final stages
If you have any questions let me know,
Kat