Chris Cairns Putting In Hard Yards For Long Walk

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16 June 2008

Chris Cairns Putting In The Hard Yards For The Long Walk

On Monday August 18th, Chris Cairns will start the longest walk of his life when he walks from Pukekohe to Rolleston near Christchurch, all by foot. The main purpose of the walk is to raise funds and awareness for rail safety.

It is also in memory of all those who have died on the rail network. Chris lost his sister Louise who was killed along with two other young women whilst they were passengers onboard a train hit by a cement truck which had failed to stop at a level crossing.

The former New Zealand international cricketer is already in serious training for the 1001 kilometre walk, which has meant getting out and pounding the pavement at 5am and 10pm to avoid the severe heat in Dubai where he has recently been staying.

Chris will start his walk from Pukekohe to avoid the main Auckland motorway where pedestrians are banned. He is keen to have as many people as possible come down and see him off at Bledisloe Park on his first morning. From there he walks to Pokeno and will then follow State Highway One. This will take him through Hamilton and Taupo all the way down as far as Sanson where he will then branch out and head into Palmerston North, rejoining State highway One at Foxton and onto Wellington.

The Interislander will then transport Chris and his team of 12 across the Strait into Picton where he will continue along the east coast of the South Island into Christchurch. He will be averaging 28km a day with an average of 5 hours on foot.

He hoping many local identities will join him along the way and is especially keen for people who may have lost friends or relatives through tragedy on the rail network to join him for parts of this challenging walk.

Chris is thrilled at the backing from Toll Rail, Ontrack, Shell NZ, The NZ Police, Land Transport New Zealand and Transit. This walk would not be possible without their support.

He finishes the walk in Rolleston on Sunday September 21st, the site of where his sister along with two other young women lost their lives in 1993. By then he will have walked for 36 days.

Chris arrives back in New Zealand next month to give his support to the Australasian Rail Safety Awareness Week being held on the 21st of July through to the 27th of July.

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Attached are the dates and locations of where Chris will be including a map of the route.

NORTH ISLAND:

DAY DATE FROM: TO:
1 18/08/2008 Pukekohe Pokeno
2 19/08/2008 Pokeno Huntly
3 20/08/2008 Huntly Hamilton
4 21/08/2008 Hamilton Cambridge
5 22/08/2008 Cambridge Tirau
6 23/08/2008 Tirau Tokoroa
7 24/08/2008 Tokoroa Atiamuri Village
8 25/08/2008 Atiamuri Village Taupo
9 26/08/2008 Taupo Motutere
10 27/08/2008 Motutere Turangi
11 28/08/2008 Turangi Waihohonu Track
12 29/08/2008 Waikhohunu Track Waiouru
13 30/08/2008 Waiouru Taihape
14 31/08/2008 Taihape Mangaweka
15 1/09/2008 Mangaweka Hunterville
16 2/09/2008 Hunterville Sanson
17 3/09/2008 Sanson Palmerston North
18 4/09/2008 Palmerston North Foxton
19 5/09/2008 Foxton Levin
20 6/09/2008 Levin Waikenae
21 7/09/2008 Waikenae Mana
22 8/09/2008 Mana Wellington*

SOUTH ISLAND:

23 9/09/2008 Picton Blenheim
24 10/09/2008 Blenheim Seddon
25 11/09/2008 Seddon Ward
26 12/09/2008 Ward Kekerengu
27 13/09/2008 Kekerengu Waipapa Bay
28 14/09/2008 Waipapa Bay Kaikoura
29 15/09/2008 Kaikoura Oaro
30 16/09/2008 Oaro Cheviot
32 17/09/2008 Cheviot Greta Valley
33 18/09/2008 Greta Valley Amberley
34 19/09/2008 Amberley Kaiapoi
35 20/09/2008 Kaiapoi Christchurch
36 21/09/2008 Hornby Rolleston

ENDS

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