Shortlist for the 2018 Next Challenge Grant

35 people have been shortlisted for a Next Challenge Grant. The full list is published below.

Of the ~200 ideas submitted, 35 have been selected to complete a more detailed application form for the chance to win a grant and/or equipment for their trip. The winners will be announced in April.

For the many people that did not make it into the shortlist, I have emailed them to offer whatever non-financial help I can. I know from previous years that many such people still go on to complete their adventures regardless and I very much hope it is the same this year.

Thank you to everyone who donated to make this grant possible: from the 52 crowd-funders that raised nearly £500 (our largest sum and most generous year per individual so far) plus the dozen adventurers who each contributed £100 or more.

For a breakdown of applicants by age, income, education, nationality and other demographics, see my recent analysis: Who is Applying for The Next Challenge Grant?

For the shortlist of ideas, keep on reading…

2018 Next Challenge Grant Shortlist

As always, I would like to stress that I have boiled down each of the below ideas into a single, pithy sentence that does not do justice to the grand plans and stories behind them.

However, I hope these will give you a flavour of the wonderful adventures people are planning.

1. Walking the worst selling Ordnance Survey map
2. Running the Western Front
3. Two filmmakers build their own bikes and cycle from the Arctic to the Baltic exploring ‘Every Man’s Right’ to camp
4. Three Munros at three years old
5. Cycling Kingston to Portland, Jamaica, and back (by a Jamaican)
6. Dancing across the USA
7. Father and son canoeing the Leeds-Liverpool canal
8. Walking with camels through the Kaisut desert (by a Kenyan)
9. Stand-up-paddleboarding the Tyne
10. Coast-to-coast on inflatable kayak
11. Skiing across frozen Lake Femund, Norway
12. Teenage twins canoeing the River Spey
13. Hiking Britain’s 1,600 mile watershed
14. Running the Isle of Man ‘TT’ route
15. Walking across Moldova
16. Walking the Glyndwrs Way with three kids
17. Cycling the Faroe Islands
18. Walking 180 miles from Boston to the summit of Mount Washington
19. Five women riding rescued horses to the Arctic Circle
20. Slovakian student circumnavigating Gotland on foot
21. Teenagers walking the Tour du Mont Blanc
22. Completing an ‘Ironman’ triathlon on the Skyline Trail, Canada
23. Bikepacking the Transcaucasian Trail
24. Cycling between and climbing up every route in the ‘Classic Rock’ guide book
25. Retracing a 120-mile girls’ Youth Hostelling Association route from 1945
26. Cycling the five belts of the Paris suburbs
27. Food technologist cycling the Netherlands to research foods of the future
28. Tandem kayaking from England to the Black Sea
29. Climbing Balaitous in a weekend
30. Climbing Mount Cameroon (by a Cameroonian)
31. Bikepacking across Luzon, the Philippines (by a Filipino)
32. Walking Dartmoor’s tors in one go
33. Bikepacking every county in Pennsylvania
34. Kayaking the Drin River, Kosovo
35. Walking the Via Dinarica trail across the Balkans

You can see previous years’ shortlists and all winners here.