About the walk
What to bring
Individuals and Teams
All walkers must bring a completed Entry card and ID card
Families
Bring one completed Entry card per family and one completed ID card per member of the family.
ID and Entry cards will be sent out to you after you register.
Walkers who are 16 or under must provide the name of an accompanying adult (18+).
Dogs are welcome but must be kept under control at all times.
Walk essentials checklist:
- Water bottle - 1 per person which you can refill en route. Ensure that you drink often (before you actually feel thirsty) particularly if it is a hot day.
- Sponsorship form - if you plan to pay money in on the day.
- Walking shoes / boots
- Waterproofs
- Sun cream
- Hat
- Warm clothes - The weather can change rapidly throughout the day so make sure you have something to keep you warm.
- High-energy snacks - particularly if you plan to do the longer walks
- Mobile phone if you have one.
- Emergency event phone number: 07889 719 952 - this is for on the day use only.
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Start Times
All walkers must return to Wimpole Hall by 6.00 pm, after which time safety cover will cease.
To ensure that you have completed your walk by this time, please note the start times below. Oxfam reserves the right to refuse admission to latecomers.
| Target distance | Latest start time |
| 26 miles | 08:00 |
| 22 miles | 08:00 |
| 17 miles | 10:00 |
| 13 miles | 11:00 |
| 9 miles | 13:00 |
| 4 miles | 15:00 |
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Safety
Please ensure that you have your Identity Card with you on the walk, and show it at checkpoints and at the end of the walk.
If there is an emergency, please contact the nearest marshal: see the detailed route directions (which you will receive on the day) for the location of marshals.
Alternatively, phone the Oxfam Walk emergency number: 07889 719 952.
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Oxfam Team Trophy
Get together a team of 5 to 10 people and walk to win the Oxfam Team Trophy, sponsored by the Cambridge Building Society, plus vouchers for a free massage
The team that raises the most sponsorship money (paid in by 31st July 2008) wins the trophy and free massage vouchers courtesy of Jonathan Sedley’s Cambridge clinic
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Fundraising Made Easy
Walkers are asked to raise at least £50 each - if every walker we expect on the day achieves this we’ll raise £75,000!
To help with your fundraising we have hand-picked 3 of the finest tips to get you started without having to break in to a sweat:
- Set up an E-Fundraising page
Quick and easy to use. All you need to do is enter your details, how much you hope to raise, the event you’re entering and then you get a free web page. Then send this link to your family and friends and add it to the bottom of all your emails. You can even add a photo if you want to brighten up your web page. - Sponsorship form
If you prefer the old fashioned method we have sponsorship forms which you can download and pass around to your friends and family. - Match Giving
Ask the company you work for if they have a match giving scheme. If they do ask if they would be prepared to match the money you raise pound for pound and you could effectively double your sponsorship! If they don’t, ask them if they’d be interested in setting one up.
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Over 40 years of the Cambridge Oxfam Walk
On Saturday 22 April 1967, 900 walkers set off on a 27-mile, A130–A11 marathon to Bishop’s Stortford to raise money for Oxfam. A year later they repeated the exercise and then in 1969 they undertook a hike to Bedford – 30 miles along roads with traffic hurtling by!
Since then, the Oxfam Walks around Cambridge have become an annual institution, now less arduous than in those early days, with more choice of routes and mainly along footpaths rather than roads, but each year raising money and making a significant contribution to Oxfam.
Last year's walk was the 40th anniversary of this splendid tradition and to mark the occasion the Oxfam Walk Team published a book celebrating this achievement. Printed in full colour, it contains route maps and directions of some of the walks from the past, with illustrations of old posters from previous years and an article on the history of the event. The book, called Celebrating Forty Years of the Oxfam Walk costs £7 and is available at the event.
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Special thanks
Oxfam would like to thank the following partners, sponsors, suppliers, and supporters who make this event possible:
Stagecoach, Cambridge City Council, Cambridge Building Society, Marshall Motor Group, Heffers, Toilet+ Ltd, Adam Phones, Algar Signcraft, AquAid, Red Cross, AA, Raynet, Jonathan Sedley (Sports Masseur), Woodcraft Folk, TCS Exhumation Services Ltd, Ridgeons Ltd. and last but not least a big thank you to all the fantastic volunteers in the Cambridge team who have put in so much time and effort.
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Related links
- Download the Oxfam Walk route map (PDF 51kb)
- Why walk?
Contact us
For all general enquiries about the Oxfam Walk:
- Telephone: 0300 200 1244
- Email: events@oxfam.org.uk

What your money can buy
£50 could pay a trainee teacher’s salary in Kenya for one month.
£100 could provide food for fifteen orphaned children in Malawi.


The Cambridge Oxfam walk poster.