NEW personal challenge walk launched – The Sport Walk 12

Everyone’s going to be missing out on their big challenge event this summer, so at Sport Walk, we decided to come up with a replacement that anyone can do – ‘The Sport Walk 12’. And to add a little extra something, it’s a challenge to do on the longest day of the year (Sunday 21st June)! The challenge is quite simple – you choose your own route, set your own goal and then walk as far as you can in 12 hours. It’s not quite a full monty ultra but it’s a pretty good compromise!

This is not a race (it’s about you achieving your own personal goal), nor is it a virtual challenge… it’s the real thing! OK, so you won’t be among hundreds or thousands of others but the test is still the same. Walk alone, with someone from your household or, if it’s permitted, a good friend but whatever the situation, you can take this challenge and make it your own.

For your goal, have a target distance that is achievable based on your current ability but push yourself to go further! That’s the point – to go beyond what you know you can do. If all goes well and we have the freedom to roam, then pick a way marked route and go point to point. You could walk a section of the Ridgeway, The South Downs Way or the Pennine Way. If you can’t travel far, plan the biggest loop you can local to you and do laps, the choice is yours (well, assuming we have choices that is). If restrictions remain tight, then we might postpone the challenge until we can all do it justice but hopefully things will have moved to a point by the 21st June where it’s going to be possible.

Don’t think we’ll be just sitting back and waiting for the posts to hit our Facebook page, oh no. We’ll be out there with you (in spirit) – we’re going to be re-walking our New Forest 80 route and trying to complete that in 12 hours, which will be quite a challenge to be honest but then, that’s what this is all about, right! However far you can go, whatever your ability, it doesn’t matter. All that matters is that you give it your best and go as far as you can.

If you can take on a point to point route, you’re going to need support for food & drink supplies (unless you work out how & where you can restock fuel & hydration along the way) but don’t worry, we’ll be publishing an article soon on how to build your own challenges, with guidance on support crews, so you’ll have all the info you need to plan your attack!

Now, the 21st June this year falls on Father’s Day, so if you’re a Dad, exploit this to recruit your sport crew! If you’re anything other than a Dad then hey, make your excuses and promise a celebration when you’re done!

Make it social!
We’ll all be out there on our own most likely, so we want to make this a social challenge. Record your walk using a sports watch or phone app and post it on Strava or another sports network (join our Strava club so we can give you kudos). Share or post your experience to our Facebook page, together with any pics you take along the way, so we can all support each other and create a virtual finish line atmosphere. Also, share your pics on Instagram with the hashtag #sportwalk12 and mention @sportwalkuk too so we can re-post on our page to show off your achievement. Better still, shoot some video and send it over to us and we’ll make a short film of everyone’s challenges!

So there you go, now you do have a challenge to work towards! You’ve got over a month to prepare, so that’s plenty of time to get in great shape to knock your goal out of the park! We’ll keep you posted on whether it’s going ahead on the 21st June or a later date if restrictions remain in place.

Get planning, get training, get going (yeah, we know but it’s the best we could think of).