5 Tips on Doing a Challenge Walk for Charity…

If you've signed up for one of the many UK mountain challenge walks, you may want to use the opportunity to raise money for charity. Thousands of people do this every year, so there's plenty of advice out there to get you started.

Here are a few tips to help get you motivated for the long countdown to the day itself:

Start training early:

Mountain walking requires fitness, strength, and endurance. Begin training early on to avoid the risk of causing yourself an injury by training too rapidly; start gently and build up at a pace you can handle, preferably over a few months. Beginning to train early will also reinforce your commitment to the challenge and to the charity, prove to donors that you mean business, and give you some motivation. Training will also identify what you need to work on.

Training can involve a huge variety of activites, from taking part in sports to get fit, to joining a guided walking weekend to test your kit and get used to walking for a whole day. Being fit and ready for the challenge when it comes will give you more confidence on the day itself.

Concentrate on fundraising:

Choose a charity you believe in and whose aims and work you can talk about when someone asks you why they should donate. And then concentrate on getting that crucial first bit of fundraising, which will both encourage more people to donate, and give you motivation to get training for the challenge.

Fundraising is hard enough without having to organise a mountain challenge yourself in an area you may not know well. Join a guided group attempting the challenge and everything will be organised for you, so can concentrate on your charity, and enjoying the day. You're also far less likely to get lost!

Find a friend:

Getting out of bed for those cold and rainy walks in the winter can be difficult, but it's much easier if you have someone else to motivate you. Ideally you'd train with someone going for the same challenge, but if you can't, then at least encourage people to join you during walks, runs, trips to the gym, or however you're going about it. Perhaps even consider a local walking club.

Do some research:

I hope if you're doing a mountain challenge then you're excited about walking in the mountains. Find out more about where you're going and the places you're likely to see on the way. There's something to interest everyone about the mountains of Britain, whether you're into wildlife, history, geology, art, or anything else you can think of. There are an endless array of stories associated with our highest mountains, and understanding something about them will make the day of the challenge even more memorable.

Keep a blog:

If you want encouragement, and don't want to abandon people who have donated, why not write about your experiences during training, and then on the challenge itself. You don't have to write huge essays every day, just enough every now and then to let people know you're still training and how it's going. Photos are great too, and remember that if friends share your posts or photos around, it could encourage more donations! And the more miserable the weather, the more likely it is to elicit donations, so get out there!

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