By
CPL Simone Liebelt
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FLTLT
Mark Dungey, SGT Derek Brown and Jeff Head train for their
Kokoda track trek when they will hold an ANZAC Day service.
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Photo
by LAC Rob Mitchell
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SGT
Derek Brown, FLTLT Mark Dungey and Jeff
Head from Management Services Agency at
RAAF Base Williamtown will trek the Kokoda
Trail and hold an ANZAC service with sport
stars.
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THREE
mates from RAAF Base Williamtown will be joined by a group of
sports stars when they commemorate Anzac Day on the Kokoda Trail.
Sergeant Derek Brown, Flight Lieutenant Mark Dungey, Jeff Head
and two more companions will start their Kokoda trek on April
24.
Following the route from Kokoda to Ower’s corner used by Aussie
diggers in 1942, they will stop at the Isurava sacred memorial
site where FLTLT Dungey and SGT Brown plan to hold an Anzac Day
service.
Coming in the opposite direction will be a team of sporting celebrities
– including Allan Border, Mal Meninga and Ian Thorpe – participating
in a Blue Sky Foundation fundraising drive.
The celebrity trekkers were an unexpected addition to the Anzac
service, which has been planned with the approval of the Air Force
and from the advice of the Williamtown WOD and chaplain.
While pleased to meet stars along the way, the team of five have
more significant reasons for their journey. “We’ve done the training,
we’ve done the preparation and now we’re just keen as mustard
to go,” said SGT Brown.
“We’ve all got different motives, but for me, my grandfather served
in Kokoda so I’m going to take his medals over there and get a
bit of closure, which will be even more important because of Anzac
Day,” he said.
“The relationship with the ADF and Papua New Guinea will also
be a significant part...”
The 96km track, which passes through rugged rainforest and steep
mountain valleys, will take the group nine days to complete with
the help of local tour guides.
SGT Brown is confident of the team’s ability to get through the
trek.
“As well as being really tough up and down walking, it’s going
to be pretty hot and there will be many river crossings, so we
should be pushed to the limit,” he said.
“It will be interesting to see how each of us reacts under that
pressure, because while everyone could walk the distance, whether
their head allows them to will be the key. We’ve all tried to
prepare ourselves for both the mental and physical challenge,
but we are pretty close mates, so we’re going to be very tight
and will stick together no matter what. We just need to keep that
team spirit happening and motivate each other through the tough
times.”
To prepare they practised in the sand dunes at Stockton Beach
to simulate heavy walking in mud, received assistance from the
local PTIs, learnt Tok Pisin from the ADF School of Languages,
and gathered information on the terrain and conditions from colleagues,
videos and books.
“The fitness preparation was hard work, but doing research was
also part of the connection; trying to understand what those diggers
went through, and some of the stories we found were just mind
boggling,” he said.
“We’re planning to read a bit of that information at key areas
along the track, so it will be pretty powerful for us and will
really add to the emotion of being there.
“I’m just keen to get the mud on my feet and try to get the mindset
of what it was like for them [during WWII].”
The
travellers return home on May 3.
