Chair's Challenge 2025

Join British Exploring Society’s Team and Walk, Jog or Run the Thames Path Ultra Challenge®

When: 13th September 2025

Where: Thames Tow Path

Distance: 28km, 50km or 100km

 

Read the Event Factsheet

 

We’re looking forward to welcoming you to the team!

Just follow the steps below to register your place and set up your fundraising page.

Please read the instructions carefully.

If you have any questions about the Chair’s Challenge, or registering and setting up your fundraising page, please email development@britishexploring.org – we’re happy to help you.

 

GET IN TOUCH

How to join the team:

  • 1. Register

    Step 1: Register with Ultra Challenge® here.

    Most of the team are opting to complete the 1st Quarter (Putney to Hampton – £89 joining fee).

    Step 2: Scroll down to Option 1 – Self Funding and click the red ‘Sign Up Now’ button, within the Option 1 box.

    Step 3: Scroll and select 1st Quarter Challenge Putney – Hampton (£89) or one of the other distances.

    Please note, you pay the full cost of your event place and fundraise whatever you can, with no set target or deadline, and there’s no event place cost to the charity – us!

    Step 4: Complete your registration details.

    Step 5: Join our team – 50-cubed Chairman’s Charity Challenge – using the password Cambridge2025!

    By joining the team, we should all be given the same start time.

    Step 6: Look out for your confirmation email from Ultra Challenge, but please ignore their instructions for a JustGiving page.

    Step 7: Just click ‘Fundraising’ below for a guide on how to set up your Just Giving page.

  • 2. Fundraising

    Step 1: Join our dedicated Just Giving page. Simple click on the orange Start Fundraising button here and follow the instruction to set up your individual fundraising page.

    Step 2: Start fundraising – let people know your taking on a new challenge and ask for their encouragement and support.

 

A message from Tim, our Chair of Trustees

 

“Thank you for joining this year’s Chair’s Challenge.  I’m looking forward to meeting as many of you as possible along the Thames Path and hearing about your experiences and why British Exploring Society is important to you.  See you on the 13th September 2025.”

"I’m so happy I took the plunge with this expedition. It was even better than I had anticipated and I made some great friends. It grew my social skills, fitness, care for the environment and self-awareness. I felt such a deep connection to nature in the highlands; I never thought I would enjoy the rainy outdoors, let alone swimming in a freezing lake! To anyone thinking about giving this a shot – feel the fear and just go for it! You’re in for all sorts of growth and generally an amazing time."

Niveah - Young Explorer, Hartz Scottish Explorers 2023

British Exploring Society gave me the opportunity to be myself without judgment, I was more than just a label for the first time in my life. I was able to share my specialist interests with like-minded people and I could channel my impulsivity into exploration. This allowed me to see my diagnosis of autism and ADHD as a positive, because I wasn’t being told to sit inside the box, and I loved it!

Hannah - Young Explorer, Kyrgyzstan 2023

As the only brown Asian boy among a diverse group of explorers, my nerves initially got the best of me. But my worries vanished as soon as I met my fellow expedition members. They greeted me with open arms, radiating friendliness and inclusivity. I quickly realized that I was among people who saw me as an equal, not an outsider.

Musa - Young Explorer, Canadian Yukon 2023

I feel like I’m taking on a more resilient attitude because of what I accomplished; Now I also understand and manage my emotions better. I’ve also been in regular touch with friends from the expedition and I will keep cherishing them.

Olu - Young Explorer, Hartz Scottish Explorers 2023

"One of the reasons I went on expedition was to prove to myself that I can do the things that at first glance I feel like I wouldn’t be able to. I like to take going up the mountain really literally - many times I’ve heard that 'problems are like climbing a mountain' and there is something so rewarding and freeing knowing I’ve actually done that!"

Grace - Young Explorer, Dangoor Next Generation Iceland 2022

"What I have found the most interesting post-expedition is realising how much I’ve learnt from the other people in my fire and on expedition. 5 weeks is a long time to be around people you don’t know very well 24/7, so there’s a lot of time for talking, sometimes about trivial things but also about some serious issues and debates. I’ve found this is what I have been applying to life back home the most – reminiscing on these conversations and applying new world views to my own thinking."

Edie - Young Explorer, Kyrgyzstan 2022

"Challenging myself to go on an expedition was the best thing I could have done at this stage in my life. The expedition, and everything that led up to it, was an incredibly rewarding, and life-affirming experience. I feel incredibly lucky to have spent such an extraordinary three weeks with a truly brilliant group of people, who I hope to stay in contact with and hopefully go on more adventures with in future."

Izzy - Young Explorer, Canadian Yukon 2022

"After the expedition I really do feel that I have a greater sense of self-confidence. The expedition has made me happy with who I am and confirmed the journey I want to embark on. I felt as though I could see my goals more clearly making me want to go on more expeditions in the future. On top of this I am even engaged in geographical dilemmas facing the world, which has made me more motivated to succeed in my studies and pursue a Geography degree."

Nye - Young Explorer, Hartz Scottish Explorers 2022

“My life goals became a lot clearer and I understand myself a lot more now. I know that in the future wherever I go and whatever I am doing this experience will still be holding a positive influence on my mindset. At the start of this expedition I was in the middle of nowhere with a large group of strangers, at the end I was in an amazing place with friends I now have for life.”

Ilayda - Young Explorer, Canadian Yukon 2019

I completely opened myself up in an entirely new and thrilling environment. Not only did I return as a person who had developed a great deal and who had in many ways matured, I did so with many new friends at my side.

Gus - Young Explorer, Canadian Yukon 2019

“Things changed for me this summer and my life was transformed when I found the inner strength to ignore the negativity of bullies and overcome my self-doubt and anxiety, to put myself forward and join the awe-inspiring, mixed ability, month-long Dangoor Infinity sea and land expedition of self-discovery to Iceland.”

Joshua - Young Explorer, Dangoor Infinity 2019