Commando Challenge

History

November 1990

FIRST ever 3 mile ENDURANCE charity event staged on the Royal Marines training course on Woodbury Common (omitting the 4 mile road run back to CTCRM)
Attracted 80 participants and raised £3,000 for Exeter Based charity HOSPISCARE
Also first ever use of this famous course to raise money for charity

November 1991

SECOND annual event is now called "ENDURANCE CHALLENGE" and attracted over 200 runners and raised over £15,000 for 5 Exeter based charities: McMillan Nurses; Guide Dogs for the Blind; Honeylands Childrens Hospital; Franklyn Hospital and Headway Exeter.
In 1990 event was only planned as a special 'one off' event – after all "who would be silly enough to want to run round a Royal Marines training course in the middle of winter for charity?" Now in its 2nd year!

August 1992

ENDURANCE CHALLENGE is now being requested by more and more people to be an 'annual' fundraising activity. Still only utilising the 3 miles of the Woodbury Common portion of the Royal Marines training course.
120 people from Exeter and surrounding area take on the 'Challenge' in 1992 and raise a staggering £6,000 for local cancer charities

October 1993

1993 saw the name of the event changed to "ENDURO CHALLENGE" to reflect growing UK interest in this type of charity event
Change of name must have worked as over 200 people enter in 1993 and raised over £10,000 for local charities
Pressure is on Event Organiser to include the 4 mile road run from Woodbury to Lympstone Barracks as part of the event

July 1994

FOR this time only the ENDURO was held as part of the Exeter Festival celebrations and raised £5,000 for local Devon charities.

March 1995

"ENDURO 3M" (as the event is now called) is becoming very popular and for the first time it is marketed throughout the South West resulting in over 300 participants raising a further £10,000 for charity.
As a result of further pressure by participants it is decided to hold 2 events in 1996 – a 3 mile fun run in March and a full 7 mile Challenge in October.

March & October 1996

ENDURO 3M is now in everyones calendar with requests for entry forms being received well before they are actually printed. Challenge is now regularly attracting competitors from previous years who want to raise funds for local charities. This year will see 350 runners raise £12,000 for Help the Aged which is the nominated charity
ENDURO 7M is run for the first time in October and disappointingly only attracts 100 participants, but still raises over £6,000 for Help the Aged.

March & October 1997

Interest in the fun ENDURO 3M is increasing year on year with 350 entries in 1997 raising £12,000 for Help the Aged
EVEN though the first ENDURO 7M was not a success it is decided to try a 2nd year. Interest was high with over 300 runners raising £10,000 for St Loye’s Foundation in Exeter.

March & November 1998

ENDURO 3M is fast becoming 'the' event to be seen to be supporting. 350 runners is not now unusual with between £12,000 being raised in support of St Loye’s Foundation, Exeter
ENDURO 7M is becoming easier to promote with more and more people wanting to try the 7 mile course. Entries are regularly received by letter months before the official entry form is printed. Another 300 dare devils raise £10,000 for Little Johns House, Romania

March & October 1999

For the first time the Gemini Radio Charitable Trust becomes the main beneficiary of the event and helps increase attendance through on air promotion. First event raises over £20,000 and attracts 500 runners.
Through the medium of radio advertising the 7 mile ENDURO attracts as many runners as the March event and raises over £15,000 for Devon charities.

March, June & October 2000

THE Gemini Radio Charitable Trust 'fun' ENDURO CHALLENGE charity event is once again the biggest in the area with 1,200+ runners helping to raise over £30,000 for Devon charities and other needy non-charitable organisations
A special 'one off' event was held on the 3 mile Woodbury Common course in aid of Musgrove Park Hospital, Taunton raising £5,000
THE 'full' 7 mile challenge is now attracting as many runners as the 'fun' event in March. This year will see over 600 runners raise £25,000 in sponsorship for the Trust and through it the charities of Devon

October 2001

FOLLOWING a series of meetings between the Royal Marines and Gemini Radio it was decided to:

Change the name of the event to 'The Royal Marines Commando Challenge' to reflect the involvement of the Commando Training Centre who agreed to manage all activity between the start and finish lines at all future events
Change the dates of the event from two separate activities in March and October to one weekend in September or October each year. This would reduce the Royal Marines manpower commitment to only one annual event
In return for the Royal Marines support the Gemini Radio Charitable Trust (GRCT) agreed to take over all responsibility for all outside individuals and charities who write to CTCRM asking for assistance in raising funds. These individuals / groups would be invited (by GRCT) to take part in the once-a-year Royal Marines COMMANDO CHALLENGE event

This first ever 'week-end' event, held at Bicton Arena, attracts 2000 runners over the two days and raises a staggering £50,000 for local charities

September 2002

Following the success of the 2000 event the dates for 2001 were set as 14th and 15th September. The venue was moved from Bicton Arena to CTCRM to give the event a more 'authentic' feel by enabling the runners to trace the exact same route as Royal Marines recruits
Over the two days of the event 1,300 runners travelled from all corners of the England to take part. For the first time the event attracted an international team in the form of German Marines based on a ship in Plymouth Dockyard who had seen the event advertised on the internet. £36,000 was raised for the charities of Devon

November 2003

The Royal Marines Commando Challenge event seems to go from strength to strength. We returned to Bicton Arena, Yettington which gave the organisers more space whilst at the same time giving the runners the same distances to cover as though they had done the event from CTCRM
Over the two days of the event 1,917 runners travelled to Devon to take part in the Challenge – which was 845 on Saturday and 1,072 on Sunday. Over the weekend we saw a grand mixture of All Female Teams, All Male Teams and Mixed Teams take on the Challenge course in the name of charity.
In excess of £70,000 was raised for the charities of Devon

October 2004

We saw the Challenge return to Bicton Arena for the 3rd year – so successful has it been with its vast car parking and catering facilities. The Royal Marines from CTCRM were once again in attendance and were used to the full by the Event Organiser in ensuring all participants not only had a great time, but also got round the course quickly and safely.
In 2004 the 2 days of the event saw 3,000 runners head for Woodbury to take on the Royal Marines training course – this was broken down to one third (1,000) on Saturday and two thirds (2,000) on Sunday. Over the weekend we saw 54 All Female Teams, 170 all Male Teams and 277 Mixed Teams take on the obstacles of the Challenge course
To date in excess of £88,000 has been raised for the charities of Devon, with Gift Aid yet to come

October 2005

It is interesting to see the 'web' of the Royal Marines Commando Challenge spreading even further afield now - with entries this year coming from Europe - we have already seen entries from the USA and Norway in previous years.
4,000 runners took on the Challenge in 2005 - with an approximate 50%-50% split over each day.
It is estimated that once Gift Aid is claimed from the Inland Revenue in the region of £160,000 will have been raised for local charities.
The Devon Air Ambulance was the chosen charity for 2005 with much needed fundraising equipment being purchased for them by the GRCT.

October 2006

For the first time in the history of the 'Challenge' it was necessary to 'cap' the number of runners over the two days to 4,000. The Organisers are pleased to report that this figure was easily reached with approx 2,000 unlucky applicants being refused entry. Suggestion: apply early in 2007 to guarantee your slot
Interest from all corners of the UK was again high with many runners travelling great distances to take on this 'world famous' Royal Marines training course - still used by recruits who have to complete the course before being presented with their Green Beret.
Of particular note this year was the filming of the event for the first ever High Definition TV channel in the USA. Does this mean we get more entries from the other side of the 'pond?'
It is likely, once all sponsorship is in and Gift Aid is claimed that the event will have raised in the region £180,000 for local good causes and charities.