Tasmanian Iconic Walks past participants are probably the best people to tell you what you are up for – here is their advice
When we asked last year’s participants to pass on some tips to future walkers, we were thrilled with the feedback. We have put it together to share the wisdom with our future walkers! Tasmanian Iconic Walks fundraising events are always challenging. This is because we want our message to get out there – living a fit and healthy life reduces your risk of having a stroke. Consequently it is essential that you prepare for it and be fit enough to hike for 7 hours in the wilderness. So each year we provide you with hiking fitness tips, but we always get the feedback that this is indeed, a challenging walk! So we thought we’d let our particpants do the talking. Here are their tips on preparing for the event, fundraising, the actual walk day and selecting your team mates. Final tip – HAVE FUN!!
Hiking Fitness required for the Tasman Arch to Fortescue Bay Tasmanian Iconic Walk
“Prepare, prepare, prepare. The more you train the more you will enjoy the spectacular scenery and the company of your friends.” 
“Lots of preparation to increase fitness, hill work especially.”
“Read the emails! Fitness hints are helpful, vary up the training.”
“Definitely know your capability prior to taking part.”
Hills work was especially important…
- “Start early especially some hill work.”
- “Do hill work.”
- “walking up and down rocks and steps”
- “Get in as many hill walks as possible before hand.”
- “I had walked some hills around my house to gauge my fitness but they were not a good comparison.”
- “Commit and start training as early as possible. Mix up the training and definitely include stair climbing.”
“Get in some decent hill sprints. Work on your aerobic fitness and get to the gym for some resistance/strength exercising. It’s amazing what preparation actually does to help with getting through walks like this.”
Fundraising tips – 100% of your fundraising goes to Stroke Foundation
“Be prepared to fundraise.”
“Be proactive and present during fundraising, don’t sit back and wait for the money to come to you.”
“Be creative with fundraising and start early.”
“Be consistent with your fundraising activities”
“Share the fundraising page on all platforms available”
Your team within the Tasmanian Iconic Walks is a mini community – there will be stronger and weaker walkers – support each other, be kind and enjoy your day together
“Communicate with team regularly, check in with each other, train together if possible, have a plan & have a laugh.”
“Make sure you are fit and have prepared for the event so you can maintain the walking speed of your fellow teammates.”
“Get organised well in advance. Make sure all your team are actually training and are experienced with bushwalks. Climb more hills!!”
“Work as a team and the fitness/fundraising is more manageable.”
“enjoy the experience, go with people you know and are comfortable with”
The Tasman Arch to Fortescue Bay is a long day wilderness hike – not a race
“Take your time and enjoy the surroundings… It’s not a race.”
“It is a challenging but most achievable walk.”
“I am not unfit however I am not at all a hiker so this was quite challenging for me.”
“don’t rely on sugar snacks to get you through you need to be fit to actually enjoy your walk otherwise it’s just a chore.”
“Fortescue Bay isn’t an easy walk if not walked much before especially on hot day as this year”
“The heat on the day was made this walk quite difficult – I had plenty of water and used all of it, but still found I was over heating. I needed to physically wet my head/neck area etc to stop feeling ill. Being prepared for all weathers”
“Tatnell’s Hill was very difficult for me because of being very overweight! Not that hard for my lean team mates who had to wait for me. Other uphills were also hard especially near the end.”
“Make sure you have good shoes and carry sufficient water and snacks”
Most importantly?
“Have fun!”
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