Celebrities walk the Great Wall of China

Gemma Atkinson will be joining Olivia Newton-John and a host of stars from the UK, America and Australia to take part in ‘The Great Walk to Beijing 2008’. Olivia Newton-John has been walking The Great Wall of China since the 7th April in an extreme 21 day trek to raise money for cancer, and change the way cancer is treated around the world. Gemma will meet Olivia and the rest of the team at Stage 4 on the 19th April.

The stars joining Olivia over the 21 days include Sir Cliff Richard, Joan Rivers, Scott Wolf, Dannii Minogue. Toyah Willcox, Anton Du Beke, Sarah Cawood, Tom Chambers, Martina Laird, Marcus Patrick and Liz Fuller.

Gemma will be walking the long, hard slog into the rugged Shanxi hinterland. She will walk with the rest of the team for five days covering 67kms. There will be few home comforts in this barren terrain - Gemma will have to camp at night and get used to no electricity or running water, so any beauty regime will be out of the window!

The money raised by the walkers will go towards the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Centre in Australia. The centre will be the primary site for clinical trials globally. It will provide dedicated research facilities and clinical trials, with the development of future cancer vaccines and therapies, which will help cancer patients worldwide.

Olivia says, “I’m touched and honoured to be supported by such an eclectic and interesting group of people, it’s really humbling and inspiring”.

Gemma says, “Being female I am very aware of how common breast cancer is and I want to do my part to help, I am looking forward to seeing China and meeting Olivia, I want to raise as much money as possible to help the cancer patients of today and tomorrow”

“After the walk I’ll look forward to having a long hot shower, as there is no running water during my stage! A massage would be nice and a cheeky drink on the plane” laughs Gemma, “I’m not worried about the camping, unlike Marcus (she jokes) I reckon it will all add to the experience!”

Each participant will support Olivia by appealing to their friends and fans to sponsor their steps via the Great Walk to Beijing website, Greatwalktobeijing.com, where progress reports on the trek and the ability for everyone to donate to support their favourite celebrity will be available.