Shae’s Trek for Charity

While beach runs or gym sessions may be the standard out of season training regime for the majority of Australia’s elite athletes, West Coast Fever’s Shae Bolton has set herself some lofty goals, literally, all in the name of charity.

The 22-year-old centre is in Africa to climb to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, the continent’s highest peak, with the aim of raising money for a foundation combating homelessness amongst youths.

“We’re heading to Dar es Salaam today and then we’ll head to Kilimanjaro tomorrow morning,” Bolton told GameOn while in transit to Tanzania.

“We’re there until Saturday when we start our actually ascent up which is an eight day trek up to the highest peak in Africa at 5895m high.

“We’re doing it to raise money for the Ladder Foundation which was set up by my uncle, a former AFL player, for homeless youth.”

“The Ladder Foundation sets up houses and gives homeless youths a second chance at life.”

Joined by a friend and another eight people on the tour, Bolton and the trekking team will spend the evenings in tents as they ascend the world’s highest free-standing mountain in the world toward the Kibo peak.

“I’ve always been quite adventurous but I’ve never been mountaineering or anything like that before,” said the WAIS athlete.

“Kilimanjaro is a great mountain for amateurs because it’s quite a slow and steady incline and quite a long route which takes a lot longer than some of the other mountains but because it’s not as steep, adjusting to altitude is quite easy.

“We’re expecting that it’s going to be physically challenging, emotionally challenging, mentally challenging but I think it will be worth it when we get to the summit.”

“Everyone I’ve spoken to has said that a climb like this is a life changing experience so there’s plenty of expectations but everyone’s different so altitude is definitely one of our worries.”

“There are a lot of things that we’ll have to overcome so we’re trying to manage our expectations and just take it as it comes.”

A Diamonds squad member in 2009-10 and a member of Australia’s 2005 World Youth Cup champion team, Bolton’s decision to trek was left until late as she waited on news regarding the national team camp in September.

“It was a bit of a last minute decision because as a netballer we can’t really plan to far in advance but it’s definitely something that I’ve always been interested in doing and saw the opportunity to do it so here we go,” she said.

“Netball is definitely a massive passion of mine and has taken up a lot of my life and loved every second of it but at the same time we need to have a balance and we need to try and maintain that balance the best we can in and out of the netball season.”

Bolton is heading to Tanzania following the announcement of her new contract with the West Coast Fever, joining incoming coach Norma Plummer and Diamonds vice-captain Catherine Cox for the 2012 ANZ Championship season.

“It’s a very exciting time for us, it’s going to be a massive year,” Bolton said.

“I think now is really a time that we’re going to step it up a notch so it’s going to be very exciting.”

While thoughts may not exactly be on netball for the next couple of weeks, the benefits of the climb weren’t lost on Bolton who’s enduring a pre-season that many of the country’s elite athletes wouldn’t consider.

“Its good altitude training isn’t it,” Bolton says giggling.

You can follow Shae on her climb up Mount Kilimanjaro or make a donation towards the Ladder Foundation by clicking here.