Good Luck to our Trailwalker Challengers!
This weekend, 19-21st September 2025, 265 teams of four will take on the infamous Trailwalker Challenge, a gruelling 100km trek across the South Downs. In addition to this incredible physical and mental challenge, they’ll be raising vital funds for The Gurkha Welfare Trust. So far, the teams have collectively raised over £172,000 towards our vital work in Nepal.
Over the past few months, the teams have covered thousands of miles on training walks, held all sorts of fundraising activities, and spent countless hours talking about shoes, walking gear, blister plasters and, of course, how they’ll celebrate at the finish line! We’ll be there to unveil the new Trailwalker medal and look forward to a legendary Gurkha curry at Brighton Racecourse.
The challenge of a lifetime
It is no mean feat to complete this arduous challenge – the 100km route follows the South Downs Way over tough terrain and with some challenging hills. In fact the total elevation gain is 2,763m – that’s more than twice the height of Ben Nevis!
The cut-off for finishing is 30 hours, but the fastest teams will be battling to beat last year’s record of 9 hours and 50 minutes. Teams will carry GPS trackers so you will be able to track them live across the route here. Tracking will start as soon as the first teams head out at 6am.
Good luck Trailwalkers!
Best of luck to everyone joining us this event weekend – the walkers, runners, and their dedicated support crews who will be there at every checkpoint.
We’re also incredibly grateful to the Queen’s Gurkha Signals, who have worked tirelessly to set up the event and manage Exercise Control, ensuring everything runs smoothly. A huge thank you also goes to our brigade of amazing volunteers who will be manning checkpoints day and night, cheering every participant through to the finish line – we could not do this without you.
One participant, Mark Sullivan, will be taking on his 21st Trailwalker challenge.
Having completed his first Trailwalker in Hong Kong in 1987 whilst he was serving over there, he has since managed to rack up an impressive 21 Trailwalker events!
When asked what it was that made him keep coming back to take part, Mark highlighted the “second to none” atmosphere, and the rewarding feeling of seeing his fellow team members push themselves more than they ever thought they could.
Trailwalker veteran Mark offered us some top tips – he avoids blisters by taping up his feet with Zinc oxide tape to make sure there is no movement in his boots. He also aims to spend as little time as possible at checkpoints to help keep the team’s momentum going – although he will always try to stop to get pictures by the monument between checkpoints 6 and 7.
On the other hand, Trailwalker newbie Louisa Stevens will be taking on the challenge for the first time!
Having successfully completed their 50km training walk, Louisa and her team describe feelings of nerves and excitement as they look forward to getting on their way this Saturday morning. Although a little anxious about trekking through the night, the team are looking forward to the famous “Gurkha festival” at checkpoint 7 where they will be greeted with plenty of food and cheer. They are also excited to see what entertaining surprises their support crew have planned to keep the team morale high!
Louisa very sadly lost her brother, Major Josh Bowman, in July 2010 in Afghanistan. Josh was leading a company of Gurkhas in Helmand at the time. Abi, who was a Unit Education Officer for 1RGR 2009-11 happened to deploy on Operation HERRICK 12 with Josh and was with him at his Patrol Base. Josh would have turned 50 this year, which to Louisa felt like the perfect time to take on the Trailwalker challenge. Along with Paula and Jo, these like-minded busy mums are keen to get going on the South Downs in support of the Trust.
If you are not able to get involved this year but would like to show your support, help us make this the best Trailwalker ever by contributing below!