Elaine Prewer takes on Great Wall of China challenge for charity

Our very own Elaine Prewer, an Associate in our Personal Injury team, has completed a gruelling trek along the Great Wall of China and raised over £3,300 for our Charity of the Year, Essex & Herts Air Ambulance (EHAAT).

Over the course of the five-day trek, Elaine’s group walked approximately 35 kilometres over challenging terrain, passing through watchtowers and historic battle stations, as well as scaling mountains and steep sets of steps. As a whole, the group raised over £38,000 for EHAAT – enough for 260 hours’ worth of fuel for life-saving missions.

Elaine was away for a total of nine days between 12 and 20 October, arriving and departing from Beijing with some time at the end for a tour of the city, some traditional Chinese food and a well-earned rest to celebrate the group’s achievement. The trek began on the third day at Huangyaguan, historically a point of strategic importance in the Wall, and ended on the seventh day at Badaling, where the participants were also given the opportunity to assist in the restoration of a section of the Great Wall, each placing a brick into the section under reconstruction to contribute towards the preservation efforts.

Speaking of her experience, Elaine said: “I expected the trek to be challenging, but no amount of training could have prepared me for the task. The steps and slopes were the worst, as we were constantly climbing up and down to reach each of the watchtowers along the route. One night I had to cover my legs from toes to hips with ibuprofen gel because they were hurting so much!”

While the trek was physically arduous, Elaine said she had no regrets:
“It’s amazing what you can put your body through when you physically don’t think you can take another step, and finishing the route felt like such an achievement. The scenery also helped to take our minds off the pain – pictures of the views from the Wall simply don’t do it justice. It was just breath-taking, and looking out at that view really helped to take my mind off of what we were doing. We also had Tony, a paramedic from EHAAT, on the trek with us; he would remind us why we were doing the challenge, and what our money was going to help achieve, whenever we were finding things difficult.”

Elaine achieved her fundraising target the day after returning from the trip, but said that any further donations would be welcome:
“I heard so much about what EHAAT does every say to save lives and what our donations would be used for. I would be so grateful to anybody generous enough to donate to this worthy cause.”

View Elaine’s fundraising page and support our amazing Charity of the Year.