These 16-year-old friends walked from Toronto to Hamilton in 18 hours to 'challenge' themselves
Joshua Wentges-Faiz and Leo Gunawardena may seem like average teenagers, but the duo have been stacking up a number of impressive challenges on their resumés. Their latest — walking from Toronto to Hamilton in 18 hours.
"We like to challenge ourselves physically, mentally. We like to overcome challenges like these. And we feel as though going on a really long walk is kind of just the purest form of challenge that you can have," Leo told CBC Hamilton.
"Walking to Hamilton is also, like, something that everyone, in theory, can do, but few people will actually set out to do. So we felt like it would be good to actually get it done."
There was very little preparation before they embarked on the more than 73-kilometre journey in early January, with Joshua working the previous night until 4 a.m. at his part-time restaurant job.
Joshua and Leo during their walk. (Submitted by Leo Gunawardena)
The two 16-year-olds set off a few hours later, around 6 a.m., following the Lake Ontario coastline through Etobicoke, Mississauga, Oakville and Burlington.
"In all hours of daylight, there were people along the way. Oakville was actually very lively. It was a very lively, cute town, more so than I would have thought,"Leo said.
"We were kind of enjoying every moment of the walk at that point. We saw a lot of cool things in Oakville — we saw a guy with a cool, old 1950s car. We went up to him and talked to him."
Joshua Wentges-Faiz and Leo Gunawardena spotted this vintage car in Oakville as they walked from Toronto to Hamilton. (Leo Gunawardena)
The walk began while it was still dark and also ended in darkness, before 12 a.m. The pair took several breaks along the way and made sure to stop whenever they found a bench that had a nice view.
The Toronto to Hamilton walk is just one of several challenges Joshua and Leo have completed.
They've previously done bike rides from Toronto to Niagara Falls, from Toronto to Peterborough and back, as well as a couple walks that were above 50 kilometres.
On their recent walk, among the cool things they saw along the way was an abandoned cargo ship.
"A cargo ship is just something you don't see every day," Leo said. "You'd be surprised by the amount of things that you don't see when you're driving that you will see when you're taking your time walking."
'Not only a physical challenge, but mentally very tough'
Leo said "it did get lonely at times" and they had to support each other to complete the journey.
"[For] the last two and a half hours there's really nobody on the streets, and we kind of just had to, you know, endure and just get it finished," he said.
LISTEN: Joshua Wentges-Faiz and Leo Gunawardena speak to CBC's Metro Morning about their walk:
For anyone who might be thinking about embarking on one of these long walks, Joshua said they should be aware of the toll it could take on you.
"With the highlights are also the lowlights, and something that people don't always consider is the mental strain that it takes," he said.
"It is not only a physical challenge, but mentally very tough because you can push each other, but it's also pushing yourself to finish, to complete. It's difficult."
Around 70 kilometres into the walk, they encountered a person standing on a bridge who appeared to be experiencing a mental health crisis.
"I wasn't sure what was going to happen … me and Leo, we tried to convince them out of it and ended up calling the police and the situation was de-escalated and everyone was OK."
Leo described it as "a very surreal moment. Like I really, after the fact, I really couldn't believe what had just happened. And it took a bit to actually process like what we had just done. But yeah, it was definitely like a stroke of luck that we were there when we were."
Leo said he and Joshua felt "so accomplished" when they got to Hamilton, but were too exhausted to enjoy the city much.
After an 18-hour walk from Toronto, Joshua and Leo crossed into Hamilton on York Boulevard. (Eva Salinas/CBC)
A friend of the two who lives in Hamilton and attends McMaster University provided accommodation for the night. There were "blow-up mattresses and some chips" waiting for them when they arrived.
The walk is now long over but Joshua and Leo are not done being challenged.
They are already planning to embark on two 50-kilometre walks — 100 kilometres in two days — to try and beat their own record set with the walk to Hamilton.
And, in the summer, they plan to take the GO train to Barrie and bike 256 kilometres from the GO station to Tobermory.
"My all-time goal though is to walk to Niagara and hopefully that's attainable," Joshua said.
Leo Gunawardena says 'you'd be surprised by the amount of things that you don't see when you're driving that you will see when you're taking your time walking.' (Submitted by Leo Gunawardena)
