Chris Cairns On The Home Run Of 1001k Walk

17 September 2008

Chris Cairns On The Home Run Of 1001k Walk

From today Chris Cairns will have just 5 days and 115 kilometres to go before he reaches his final destination of Rolleston, the site of the 1993 rail tragedy that claimed three young women’s lives including that of his sister Louise.

The other two young women who died were Joanna Peat and Wendy Gilbert.

Chris started out on his 1001k walk to raise rail safety awareness on Monday August 18 and will complete his walk when he arrives at Rolleston around 1pm on Sunday September 21.

Today Chris is walking from Cheviot to Greta Valley, then on Thursday Greta Valley to Merely, Amberley to Kaiapoi on Friday, Kaiapoi to Christchurch on Saturday, then the final 10 kilometres will be completed on Sunday into Rolleston.

Chris says with out a doubt one of the highlights of travelling along the east coast of the South Island has been the incredible scenery as he went from Waipapa Bay into Kaikoura. Another treat was having his extended family join him as he walked from Picton to Blenheim.

On a more sobering note he won’t forget visiting the site of a recent level crossing accident at Grovetown, which left an 18-year-old male fighting for his life.

Chris said it reminded his whole team of why they were doing the walk and that is to increase rail safety awareness.

However as he nears the end of his 1001k journey he does not need to think too hard about what he is looking forward to most and that is being able to sleep in the same bed for more than 3 nights in a row.

There has not been one rest day since he left Pukekohe.

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