A U of T student has been walking on foot to other universities: The story of a 75 km trek from Toronto to Waterloo in 24 hours

Over the past few weeks, U of T student Vittorio has been walking from Toronto to various university campuses: first to McMaster University and now to the University of Guelph, Wilfrid Laurier University, and UW. In around 24 hours, he made a trip starting Nov. 16 from U of T’s Scarborough campus to UW. 

Vittorio is a first-year humanities student with a passion for long-distance walking. He had originally walked alone to McMaster University, earlier in November, but this time two other U of T students accompanied him. “I walked with two other [U of T students] who I [met on] the Internet, and they were a lot like me — they liked walking long distances as well. So we’re all veterans, in a way,” he said. They met around 8 a.m. and walked to Brampton by 8 p.m., where they decided to bus to Guelph to avoid walking the dangerous highways at night time. The crew arrived in Kitchener at 5 a.m., Wilfrid Laurier at 8 a.m., and UW by 10 a.m. The journey totaled 75 km of walking. 

Vittorio had previously walked 12 to 13 hours at his longer and only recently decided to attempt setting a personal record of 24 hours. “I’ve always liked walking long distances. I used to live in Malaysia. Back in Malaysia, I did a ton of walking. The thing is, I’ve never walked for 24 hours straight. I decided to do that two weeks ago by going to McMaster. That experience was really fun, so I did it again on the weekend too, to Waterloo,” he said.  

When he first started walking long distances, his recovery would take a whole week: “The first time I did a really long walk, I could not walk anywhere for the next week. I had massive blisters on my feet.” Now, he says his recovery speeds are down to one day: “On Sunday, the day after Waterloo, my legs were in so much pain. I was walking like a half-dead person. Each step was so painful, but the next day, I was fine, I just felt okay. I kinda developed faster recovery speeds… [and] my feet have developed in a way that they don’t get blisters anymore.” 

That doesn’t mean the journey isn’t still taxing. “Walking 24 hours straight is easier said than done. It sounds good when you say it, but when you’re actually doing it, right? I was in pain, it’s painful to go the entire way,” he said. For those wanting to start long-distance walking as well, Vittorio suggested starting small. 

Originally, Vittorio had planned to get merchandise from the campuses he visited as a souvenir for the trek. However, he discovered 10 hours into the walk that campus bookstores were closed on weekends. After posting online on Reddit though, he was able to connect with a student and buy a UW hoodie from them. He had no similar luck with the University of Guelph or Wilfrid Laurier University. 

Vittorio hinted at another walk to come in the near future. He even posted a Discord server to organize more walks for students to join. “Something like 30 people joined that Discord server which was insane to me. I’m actually pretty excited — I didn’t realize that people would be interested in walking along with me,” he said. 

Suggestions were made on Reddit to walk for charity, and Vittorio has expressed interest in the idea. During the interview, he said, “At this rate, I could be well along my way to starting a club just for walking. I feel like it’d be more accessible compared to marathons because they’re way more tiring than walks.”