Last weekend saw our team tackle the Isle of Wight Ultra Challenge, walking 25km, 54km and 106km around the island’s coastal paths to raise money for African Adventures Foundation. Blisters, huge hills and sore legs made it hard, but the team crossed the finish line and, with your help, made it African Adventures Foundation’s biggest fundraiser to date!
Saturday at 7.30 am, we set off from Chale, ready to conquer the first 54km. On our way to the finish line in Cowes, we tackled hills, saw some beautiful coastal views, waded through mud up to our ankles and made multiple visits to the medical tent. With the last members of the team crossing the finish line at 11 pm and completing their 54km challenge, it was time for the rest of the team to rest up and get ready to do it all again the next day.
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As the team rested for the night, Chris carried on with the challenge, walking through the night. He completed the full 106km in 24 hours and 2 minutes – an incredible feat!
Whilst day one was full of beautiful scenery and was a largely enjoyable walk (mud aside), day two felt more about getting our heads down and getting it done. Our day one start was full of excitement, positivity, and energy, but day two was filled with a lot more apprehension and worry about whether we could see the challenge through.
Waking up with already fatigued legs and sore feet, we knew that the day was not going to be easy. Little did we know how tough it would actually be. ‘Mind over matter’ is a saying that definitely came to mind.
The first stretch on the second day was mainly on pavements – not the most inspiring, but it meant that we could up the pace and make good headway in the first half of the 53km. The second half was much hillier and really tested our mental strength, but we held on to why we were doing the challenge, and this got us through. Our team doing the full challenge finished at various times between 7 pm and 9:30 pm – an amazing achievement for all involved.
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Nick and Tony from Winchester Rotary Club joined us for the last quarter. Taking everything in their stride, the pair finished at 5.30 pm – an amazing achievement. They raised a fantastic £1110 between them.
“Once we reached Bonchurch, the walkers doing the full challenge started overtaking us, quite worrying until Nick pointed out that they were half our age. I then told him that some of them were, in fact, a quarter of our age.”
A massive thank you to everyone for their kind words over the weekend; it really motivated us to reach the finish line. Your donations made the challenge our biggest fundraising event to date, raising over £12,000 for African Adventures Foundation’s food security programmes which will ensure food security for 1350 children at our partner schools in Kenya for seven months.
Thank you to Hendy, Blaydon Developments Limited, Enable Promotional Marketing, Rotary Basingstoke, Pharos Response (Travel-Aid), Lumon, Independent Car & Van Servicing, Hanbury Wealth and Happy Beams Interiors for being our event t-shirt sponsors and to Clothes2Order for printing and providing the t-shirts.
“What a challenge, what an experience! Tough is an understatement, but it was so worth it for what we have achieved in sponsorship, ensuring food security for seven months for 1350 children.
Thank you so much to all the African Adventures team for the event, and to all who sponsored and supported us. The impact of all of this will be huge, and everyone should be proud of this.”
Would we do an Ultra Challenge again? Ask in six months’ time once we’ve recovered! Thank you to everyone in our event team who walked, to those who sponsored, and to our volunteers, supporters, friends and family for all your motivational messages.
