One of Australia’s largest fundraising walks is heading for the hills.
The 100 kilometre Oxfam Trailwalker event in March next year will start in the heart of the Dandenong Ranges.
The new trail will start at Emerald Lake and make its way over the Dandenongs and through some of Melbourne’s leafy eastern suburbs including Mount Evelyn, Olinda and Lilydale.
From there, it will travel down the line all the way to Fairfield.
The trail change is the first in almost a decade, with the previous trail starting from Wheelers Hill and ending in Wesburn.
“After almost 10 years on the same trail between Wheelers Hill and Wesburn, Oxfam Trailwalker listened to feedback from some of our most dedicated Trailwalkers and decided it was time to improve and update the trail,“ Oxfam Trailwalker spokesperson Anna Wemyss said.
“We want to give Melbourne something fresh.
“The 2019 trail presents an exciting new challenge for our passionate returnees as well as for those considering taking up this fantastic team fundraising challenge – and the opportunity to help Oxfam’s work tackling poverty in communities around the world – for the first time.”
Ms Wemyss said the new trail would give participants fantastic views of the city as they climbed over Mount Dandenong.
She added that the new trail could also have beneficial tourism impacts on the towns it passed through.
Hundreds of teams take part in the event ever year and with a new trail, the 2019 event is expected to be no different.
The event will be held over 36 hours from 29 to 30 March and registrations are available at trailwalker.oxfam.org.au.
