friendship

Sunrise's Edwina Bartholomew has found a way to combine exercise, friendship and charity.

For some of us, finding time to catch up with our friends is near impossible.

Between work, family life, running after kids, maintaining some semblance of a relationship and occasionally fitting in ‘me time’, friendships can often fall by the wayside.

Edwina Bartholomew knows this first world problem quite well, with her busy TV presenting career meaning monthly dinners and coffee catch ups just never seem to get off the ground.

Recently, the 34-year-old found a way to combine exercise, friend catch-ups and giving back, taking part in Oxfam’s Trailwalker challenge with her sister, Meg and six close friends.

Swapping heels for hiking boots, the group undertook the challenge of walking 50kms in Sydney’s bush land in under 24 hours, all the while raising funds for Oxfam’s work empowering communities to tackle poverty.

For Edwina, being able to do some good for the world – and spend time with her loved ones while doing so – was an invaluable experience.

“To be able to do this walk with friends, I mean what a wonderful way to catch up. If you can’t catch up over 14 hours, then I don’t know when you can,” the Sunrise presenter told Mamamia.

“My sister is about to move to London for a year so this was a really nice experience for us to be able to spend all this time together in the lead up.”

"If you can’t catch up over 14 hours, then I don’t know when you can."(Image:Patrick Moran/OxfamAU)
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This year, over 700 Sydney teams registered for the Oxfam Trailwalker, with 500 generous volunteers donating their time, and 2100 support crew on hand to supply extra food, water, Band-Aids, hugs and anything else walkers might need to get them through.

All funds raised support Oxfam’s work empowering communities to tackle poverty by implementing long-term development projects overseas, campaigning for change at a government and corporate level, and responding to emergencies, such as South Sudan, Yemen, Iraq and Syria.

With $2.8 million already raised through this year's Trailwalker events, Oxfam hopes to reach their target of $3 million.

LISTEN: Edwina shares her nifty trick for making time for friends when you're really bloody busy (post continues after audio...)

Although the walk is well and truly over, it’s not too late to donate to Edwina or Meg’s teams. To donate to Edwina’s team, click here, and Meg's here.

And if you'd like to gather your loved ones and give the challenge a try, Oxfam has just launched Melbourne’s inaugural 50km trail for 2018, and registrations for all states are now open here.