Run For Us In The Virtual London Marathon

Posted by Challenge Wales on

Are you ready to take on the virtual Virgin Money London Marathon for #TeamChallengeWales and by doing so support more young people to participate in our life-changing youth development programme?

The London Marathon is one of the most iconic running events in the world and now it’s your turn to be part of its history.

When: Sunday 3rd October 2021
Where: Anywhere
Start / Finish of event: 00:00hrs – 23:59:59hrs (BST)

This year the Virgin Money London Marathon is set to be the world’s largest marathon with 100,000 participants. 50,000 taking part on the streets of London (in the traditional London Marathon from Blackheath to the Mall) and 50,000 taking part around the world in the virtual London Marathon.

You can join us on the course of your choice; round your neighbourhood, through Cardiff, Plymouth or Aberdeen, it’s your choice, it’s your course. You will have almost 24 hours to run, walk or jog the 26.2 miles which makes the virtual Virgin London Marathon really achievable for all abilities.

Registration Fee: £20
Sponsorship Pledge: £200

The Sponsorship Pledge is the minimum amount of sponsorship (not including Gift Aid) we would like our virtual London Marathon runners, joggers and walkers to aim to achieve although it can be more than this.

To help you achieve the distance, the London Marathon app will help you bring the virtual experience to life, with an exclusive audio commentary featuring famous voices!

How to sign up and be part of #TeamChallengeWales
If you would like to join #TeamChallengeWales and be part of the Virtual London Marathon then please APPLY HERE.
We will then be in touch to advise how to pay your registration fee and then we will help you set up your fundraising page for donations. Please note we have 5 virtual places for the 2021 London Marathon and runners need to be registered by 16:00hrs 16th July 2021
We will then promote your fundraising page on our social media channels and website to help you raise even more! It’s that simple.

If you would like to speak to us about a virtual place then please email the office.

If you’ve got your own place in the Virgin Money London Marathon why not run for Challenge Wales?

How money raised will help disadvantaged young people?
Challenge Wales is a predominantly volunteer-run charity that works with disadvantage young people enabling them to develop their life skills to improve their potential and prospects in life. Our activities at sea onboard our two sail training vessels develop teamwork skills, communication skills, improve self-confidence and improve mental health. Skills that are necessary to help young people move into work, education or training. Your donations and sponsorship will enable Challenge Wales to continue its programme of voyages and work with more young people who need focus and direction and opportunities to help them to succeed. To find out more, why not read some of our case studies.

Two boats sailing in Wales

*Updated* Statement regarding COVID-19 (Coronavirus)

Posted by Challenge Wales on

As COVID-19 (Coronavirus) turns normality upside down and lockdown eases, we are aware that this can be unsettling for everyone so we want to let you know what is happening at Challenge Wales HQ.

UPDATE: 15th June 2023: Challenge Wales continues to maintain strict hygiene procedures onboard before each voyage. And anyone with symptoms (prior to a voyage) or testing positive for COVID should not attend a voyage. Our booking terms and conditions advise that anyone who is unable to join a voyage will not get a refund unless we can sell the berth(s). However, we do take individual situations into consideration. It must be stressed that if cancellations take place at short notice or at the end of our sailing season it is unlikely we will be able to fill places and in which case a refund is extremely unlikely.

UPDATE 1st June 2022: Challenge Wales does not require you to undertake a lateral flow test but if you do have one available then you are encouraged to test prior to coming onboard. Should you exhibit symptoms then you should take a test and only come to the boat if it is negative. If you have symptoms OR test positive & don’t have symptoms, Day 1 is the day after you exhibit symptoms or do the test (whichever is earlier). You should isolate for 5 days and take a lateral flow test on Day 5. If it is negative on Day 5 and 6 then you can come to the boat.

Our COVID Guarantee (up until January 2023): We want you to book with total confidence and not worry about your voyage so should we not run a trip or postpone a trip (due to COVID) or you test positive for COVID prior to an activity and you can’t join us, we will offer you an alternative voyage, hold your money for a future trip or provide you with a refund. The choice is yours. If you hold a Challenge Wales Gift Voucher, and COVID stops you redeeming it, then your voucher will be extended (at no additional cost) for an additional 6 months, or longer if there are lockdown restrictions, giving you plenty of options to jump onboard. Should you wish to take advantage of our COVID Guarantee, we will require proof of COVID so please send us a screengrab of your positive test result when it is reported through the NHS App.

UPDATE 14th February 2022: Wales is in Alert Level 0 however, there are still COVID protocols in place onboard both our vessels. All voyage participants and crew will need to provide a negative lateral flow test on the morning of their voyage. These tests are available for free.

UPDATE 30th May 2021: As our voyages resume on limited capacity, we will be requesting all participants and crew to provide a negative lateral flow test on the morning of the voyage. These tests are available free of charge and details. Challenge Wales day voyages will resume on 1st June 2021.

UPDATE 20th April 2021: The Challenge Wales office has reopened and keeping our guests and crew safe is our priority. At all times we will be following Government Guidance.

Our proposed roadmap is subject to change and further clarification:
* 31st March 2021: Organised Outdoor Activities for Children (Under 18’s) can restart. This will include our shore-side Sea and Tell programme with social distancing and masks and restrictions in place. We will be starting with groups who are in a bubble before opening this up to non-bubbled groups.
*18th April 2021: Staff/Volunteer training to recommence with limited numbers and government guidance and RYA Cymru guidance being followed
*Mid May/Beg June 2021: Adult day voyages can restart with limited numbers. Youth day voyages can restart with limited numbers.
*21st June 2021: Residential activities will restart for young people. This may include limited numbers or being in a bubble with COVID testing prior to a voyage commencing. Adult and Youth day voyages can start with increased numbers.

Challenge Wales has always operated a high level of hand hygiene on its vessels and deep cleaning during and between voyages. This will continue with additional hand sanitising prior to boarding the vessels, more hand cleaning opportunities and additional cleaning of high touch areas on the boats. Masks/face covering must be worn below deck.

UPDATE 26th March 2021: The safety of everyone who sails with us has been of paramount importance and we continue to stress that Challenge Wales and the outdoor residential sector has a huge part to play in the recovery from the Covid pandemic.

In light of announcements from Welsh Government (and UK Government which can differ), it now seems there is a form of roadmap to get us back on the water.

UPDATE 4th January 2021: The Challenge Wales office has now partly reopened. There will be no sailing activities while there is a national lockdown in place and we continue to follow government guidance. Strict protocols are in place for managing maintenance activities onboard during the winter months.

UPDATE 23rd June 2020: Challenge Wales has now made the decision to postpone voyages up until mid August 2020 and will continue to review the situation. Over the next couple of weeks we will be in touch with all those that this now effects. We continue to monitor the situation as restrictions in Wales and the UK begin to ease in July.


UPDATE 4th May 2020: Challenge Wales has made the decision to postpone voyages up until 30th June 2020 and will continue to review the situation on an ongoing basis. We aim to be in touch with everyone regarding future voyages, two months prior to the voyage taking place to update on the changing situation.

UPDATE 24th March 2020: Following on from the previous announcement and yesterday’s Government announcement regarding limiting gatherings and staying at home, Challenge Wales has made the decision to postpone voyages up until 31st May 2020. We will be in touch with everyone affected by this over the next 24 hours and will continue to review the situation on an ongoing basis.

UPDATE 18th March 2020: Following the change in the UK Government’s advice regarding non-essential social contact (social distancing) and unnecessary travel, the Trustees of Challenge Wales have taken the difficult, but necessary, decision to suspend our sail training operations, effective immediately until 18 April 2020 and review the situation on a fortnightly basis there on, with the aim of rescheduling  these trips to a later date.  We will be monitoring very closely Government advice and Public Health Wales advice on a daily basis and over the coming days continue to make decisions regarding our sail training programme for April, May and June.

As you can imagine this is unprecedented times for the world and us as a small charity.

We want to reassure you that our priority is always the safety and wellbeing of everyone involved with the charity; our voyage crew (guests), volunteers, staff and their families.

If you are booked on a voyage during this period (Up until 18th April 2020), you will be contacted by the office this week if you haven’t already been. We would ask that you please don’t contact us regarding future voyages until Friday 27th March 2020 to enable us to speak to all voyage crew and volunteers who are currently affected by this. Moving forwards, we will be in touch regarding later voyages when decisions are made and when the time arises.

Challenge Wales is extremely proud of the reputation we have developed and our relationships we have with volunteers, stakeholders, clients, funders and supporters who have helped us get to where we are today. We are now working in a fast-moving environment that is out of our control but decisions made will be made in the best interests of our stakeholders and we will keep everyone updated as things change.  It will no doubt be a rocky road ahead for many organisations (large and small), individuals and families and we will be extremely grateful to those who are able to offer support to us. If you think there is something you can do for us at this time then please get in touch.

Please continue to monitor the News Page on our website and our social media channels (@ChallengeWales) for updates.

More information about COVID-19 (Coronavirus) and the symptoms can be found here on the NHS 111 Online website.

We look forward to getting back to normality, whenever that will be, and continue to change lives in a positive way.

The Challenge Wales Trustees

It’s a big THANK YOU to our amazing volunteers

Posted by Challenge Wales on

The first week of June is Volunteers’ Week enabling us to say a big thank you to all those who help Challenge Wales and support young people

Our amazing volunteers make our voyages possible, they work with young people, they help with maintenance, they do the shopping ready for a voyage, they do DBS checks, they show people around the boat on open boat days, they spend days at sea helping young people leave their comfort zone, they sometimes get sea sick….and sometimes they don’t, they do fundraising, they support fundraising activities, they do cleaning to ensure the boat is spick and span, they are positive role models, they provide supportive words and encouragement to young people and are passionate about helping others. This is why we want to say thank you!

Volunteers Week Logo in Welsh

Challenge Wales is the award-winning charity that it is today because of our volunteers. The young people we work with have missed out on outdoor learning because of Covid, but our volunteers have missed out too.

Volunteering provides a way of giving back, a way of socialising and meeting new people, making new friends, learning new skills or improving current ones. It’s great for your well-being. And, volunteering can improve self-confidence and make you feel good, or even great about yourself.

So thank you again and we can’t wait to welcome back all our volunteers onto our vessels and back into the fold again.

If you are interested in being part of our volunteer team and enabling young people to broaden their horizons and develop to their potential then why not sign up to become a volunteer today and find out more.