By Margaret Maccoll
About 2000 trekkers, mostly women, walked along our spectacular coastline last Friday as participants in the Sunshine Coast’s Coastrek and raised more than $1m for Beyond Blue along the way.
Walkers were doing it to raise money for a good cause and to enjoy the walk with friends, they said.
One team told Noosa Today it was important to them because each member of their group had family or friends that had been affected by mental health issues.
Local Coastrek founder and organiser Di Westway said teams of four walked 60km from Caloundra or 30km from Mudjimba finishing the event at Noosa Woods.
Ms Westway said the participants, who included Olympic swimmer and Coastrek ambassador Libby Trickett, were aged mostly between 35-55 years and had a time limit of completing the 60km event within 18 hours and the 30km event within nine hours.
She said teams had been training for the past 12 weeks for the walk and raising money toward the cause with proceeds to Beyond Blue to be used predominantly for the helpline service which has experienced a 60 per cent increase in calls during Covid.
Ms Westway said organisers of the Sydney-based group travelled in previous years to the Sunshine Coast but this year Covid restrictions prevented them attending.
However, local people had stepped up to assist and cheered participants along the way and over the finish line.
Coastrek has been operating on the Sunshine Coast as well as other locations for several years, inspiring more than 40,000 people to get moving out in nature, and raising more than $30 million for charity.
For more information visit coastrek.com.au/events-brisbane
