The Next Challenge

Tag: Guest Blogs

  • Bikepacking Anadalusia

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    Tim Moss
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    Megan Cumberlidge’s photos have made me very jealous. She won a Next Challenge Grant and recently took her mountain bike to Andalusia, Spain. Her grant was only small – £50 – because the main thing she asked for in her application was kit. Specifically, she needed bikepacking bags. I have two full sets of bikepacking…

  • Walking the Western Ghats with 4-Year-Old Twins

    Walking the Western Ghats with 4-Year-Old Twins

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    Tim Moss
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    By far our youngest grant winners to date, Dyuthi and Druthi (4), have recently returned from a short walk in the Western Ghats, India. They went with their dad, Guru, and cousin, Adithi (8). [one_sixth]–[/one_sixth][two_third][box] The Next Challenge Grant Guru’s family hike was part funded by a Next Challenge Grant, an annual bursary for aspiring…

  • Scoot the Loop: 150-miles around London on a kick-scooter

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    Tim Moss
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    Last year, Next Challenge Grant winner Bex Band kicked a scooter 150 miles around the ‘London LOOP’. In her grant application, written in July 2016, she wrote: Myself and my husband have never done anything like this before. We are very ordinary – I am a secondary school teacher and my husband is an account…

  • Walking the Tendrivska Spit

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    Tim Moss
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    While I read through all of the wonderful applications we’ve received for this year’s Next Challenge Grant, previous years’ winners are out there doing their things. Today, we have a report from an expedition in Ukraine. The Next Challenge Grant is open to people of all nationalities, wherever they live in the world. Most winners…

  • Running the Channel Islands

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    Tim Moss
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    The Channel Islands might not be the first destination that springs to mind when planning an expedition but it is eactly where Next Challenge Grant winner, Amanda McDonnell, chose for her adventure earlier this year. She ran 110 miles across the five main islands over the course of a week. Her story is below. In…

  • Running the Three Peaks

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    Tim Moss
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    Next Challenge Grant winner Tina Page has just run the British Three Peaks: Snowden, Scafell Pike and Ben Nevis. She didn’t just run up them, she ran between them too: 500 miles in total. And, to cap it all off, she only started running three years ago. That fact somehow makes her feat seem both…

  • Walking 400 miles along Japan’s tsunami-affected coastline

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    Tim Moss
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    Two weeks ago, we waved off the first two winners of the 2017 Next Challenge Grant: Libby and Lisa set off run and cycle up every Munro in Scotland. They’ve already ticked off 31 mountains and you can follow the rest of their progress on Twitter. This week another adventure begins: Robin Lewis, who won…

  • Running and cycling all the Munros

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    Tim Moss
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    Two weeks ago I announced the winners of the 2017 Next Challenge Grant. There were sixteen winners spanning a whole range of adventures but the biggest award went to two fell running buddies: Lisa and Libby. The pair are planning to run up and cycle between every Munro in Scotland (a Munro is a mountain…

  • Cycling 2,000 miles through Europe

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    Tim Moss
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    Charlie and Sam King were winners of a 2016 Next Challenge Grant. They used their money for a big cycling trip across Europe inspired by their dad who had done a similar ride aged 17 but had recently been diagnosed with a brain tumour. Charlie and Sam were partly inspired by their dad’s attitude to…

  • Cycling the Welsh Three Peaks

    Cycling the Welsh Three Peaks

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    Tim Moss
    in

    Cycling between, walking up and swimming on the slopes of Snowdon, Cadair Idris and Pen y Fan. That was the plan for 2016 Next Challenge Grant winner Heather Jones. She hadn’t planned, however, to get buried by snow in a bivvy bag. Her trip turned out to be a little more dramatic than she’d anticipated.…

  • Running Around the Channel Islands

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    Tim Moss
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    Applications for the 2017 Next Challenge Grant closed last Friday. We’ll have to wait a while before we find out who’s going to win but, in the meantime, there are still plenty of winners from 2016 who are up to exciting things. One of those people is Amanda McDonnell who will be setting off later…

  • Failure is My Fear (Worse Would Be Not Trying)

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    Tim Moss
    in

    Heather Jones is about to set off to cycle between, hike up and swim on the slopes of the Welsh Three Peaks. She was one of the winners of last year’s Next Challenge Grant and has very kindly been loaned one of Simon Stanforth’s excellent expedition bikes for the trip. Below, Heather explains what’s motivated…