PARTICIPANTS have recently been announced for the 2024 Y WA Kokoda trek, with two local residents taking on the legendary path through the heart of Papua New Guinea’s rainforest.

Fifteen-year-old Guildford resident Lilli Taylor said the training was already getting gruelling, but she was excited for the experience of the trek.

“The training itself has been a little bit of a struggle. I’m still building up to where I need to be. I’ve been doing squats, lunges and some upper body training most days, and I am trying to build a routine for myself to make it easier,” she said.

“The trek is a unique experience that not a lot of people get to do and a completely new thing for me.”

Lilli said keeping techniques in mind she learned at the first training camp for the trek have been helpful in keeping herself pushing forward.

Eliot Barton, who is also 15 years old and from Kalamunda, said he has been training every day to be ready for the challenging walk.

“I am pushing through the training and trying to build the consistency with it. I am trying to stay in a routine every week, do the training that I need to do so that I am fit and can feel confident in that on the trek, because I know there will be times that mentally it will be much tougher to push through when I am tired or maybe missing home, than maybe the physical side,” he said.

“But I’m looking forward to exploring a new area. I’ve never travelled overseas, so it will be amazing to see a whole new culture and new surroundings. As well as meeting new people and developing new relationships with the other young people on the trek, and the people we get to meet when we are in Papua New Guinea.”

The Y WA chief executive officer Tim McDonald accompanied the group on the inaugural trek last year and said the tough but rewarding experience had a profound impact on the young people who took part.

“Almost six months on, we still see the huge impact it had on them. The shift in their lives, their outlook, their attitudes, the way they speak, look and connect. It has enabled them to flourish within their communities and push themselves well beyond what they thought they were capable of. We are so excited to now offer this to a new group of young individuals,” he said.

The Kokoda trail is a 96-kilometre-long path stretching almost across the width of Papua New Guinea with a history deeply connected to the Australian military and ideas of camaraderie, courage and mateship.

Dr McDonald said learning to action these kinds of ideas would be the main benefits for young people taking part, transforming their experience into a toolkit of life skills.

“No matter how difficult their life might be, this trek will give them a sense of purpose, they will get up every day and keep going,” he said.

“Part of the power of Kokoda is when they get home and talk about the experience, they realise it’s a significant achievement for them. It is an employable skill that they can put in their CV.”