Race the World 2023
Since 2020, British Army soldiers from across the world have taken part in our annual Race the World – The Seven Continents Virtual Challenge raising over £40,000 for ABF The Soldiers’ Charity. Units have raced each other across the seven continents – cycling, tabbing, rowing, swimming and running – clocking up incredible distances each year whilst raising vital funds to help us support soldiers, veterans and their immediate families in genuine need.
Race the World 2023 will take place over three identical 3,399km legs across a single continent to enable units to compete at times to suit their commitments. At the end of the three legs, awards will be made to the fastest team (both in time, and on individual averages), and the best fundraising unit. Team Captains will have the option of which leg their unit competes in. The legs are as follows:
Team Captains should register their entry using the appropriate registration form. Next year, the race will continue across a different continent.
This is a change to previous years (where we have raced across all seven continents) so that we can make the event more accessible and less time-consuming for those taking part.
Race the World is open to any Army unit, Regular and Reserve, Major and Minor.
You can take part in Race the World from any location. We are used to supporting our fundraisers wherever they are deployed worldwide. Leader boards will be published regularly on the website alongside updates on social media.
Get the families involved!
Families are strongly encouraged to support Race the World, either by contributing to the distances achieved, or by assisting with fundraising through linked social events, such as a themed party at points of interest along the route.
You can take part in Race the World from any location. We are used to supporting our fundraisers wherever they are deployed worldwide. Leader boards will be published regularly on the website alongside updates on social media.
Whilst winning may be the focus for many of the competitors, we cannot forget the fundraising side. Through our combined efforts, Race the World 2023 could raise over £50,000 – that will help considerably in our efforts to support soldiers, veterans and their families in times of genuine need.
Don’t forget the fundraising!
Race the World Registration
Race the Word registration is now open! Team Captains are requested to click on the Registration Tab above (or click here) and register for the appropriate leg of the race they wish to enter (please only enter one leg, unless you wish to enter multiple teams).
Our 2022 Winners
Questions?
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch with the Race the World team by emailing racetheworld@soldierscharity.org. We are here to help!
Your Privacy Matters
Of course, we will need to communicate with you about this event, after that it is up to you. We value your privacy and our full privacy statement can be found here.
Thank you for your support.
The Route
To maximise participation across the whole Army, the same route will be run over three legs. This route will start in Edinburgh and end in Palermo, Sicily, a total distance of 3,399km.
Registration
To register your unit for Race the World 2023, simply click on the appropriate link below. This will take you to our registration page on Enthuse. Only the Team Captain needs to register.
The registration process will automatically set up a fundraising page for your unit; we will use this to track your fundraising progress throughout the challenge. Further details on fundraising, including the Fundraising Leader Board, can be found on the Fundraising Tab above.
Strava Clubs
Once you have registered, we will set up a Strava Club for you. We will remain as an administrator in the club for the duration of the competition but will also add the Team Captain (and any assistants) as an administrator, so that you can accept new members to the club. The clubs will be private and only those accepted by an administrator will be able to join. For security reasons, we will not add any member unless they have been verified by the Team Captain.
If you have any security concerns about using Strava (including the public name of your club) please get in touch with us. There is also a unit responsibility to ensure that privacy settings on your personal Strava accounts is correct. For those in PED-restricted environments, manual entries can be used without the GPS data.
All activity must be recorded on Strava, otherwise the data will not count towards the overall distance. Manual entries can be used on an individual basis; there is no requirement for additional proof of distance – we trust you! Activities will only count if they are uploaded within the timeframe of that continent.
If you have a group activity, all members of that group have to record their distances individually on Strava for it to count.
If it’s not on Strava – it didn’t happen!
We will draw the distance data automatically from the Strava clubs and this will be displayed on the Recent Activity Tab for each participating unit (these will not be displayed in race order).
The other key data that we will harvest is the number of activities per day. This will enable us to work out an average distance per activity, and allow for smaller units to fairly compete against larger units.
Key Rules
- Only one Strava club should be set up for each unit.
- Only data entered through Strava will count.
- Individuals cannot be part of more than one Race the World Strava club.
- Manual activities will only be accepted if they are uploaded within the timeframe of each race leg.
Leader Board
Please note:
- There may be a delay between what is recorded on the Strava ‘recent activity’ widgets, and what is shown here on the leader board. This is due to a lag in the automated process, and caching issues with individual access devices (such as your PC or phone).
- To open the leader board without caching issues, it is recommended that you view in an ‘incognito’ window; this will not draw any cached data.
- The timings of Race the World are based on BST/GMT; if a unit has competitors in other time zones, their activities may not count if completed before or after the start/finish of each leg based on BST/GMT.
Leader Board to Follow
Fundraising
Whilst Race the World is a fantastic inter-unit challenge, we must not forget that it has been designed to raise money for the Army’s National Charity. There is no reason why it cannot raise in excess of £50,000 – that money will go a long way in helping us to support soldiers, veterans and their immediate families in times of genuine need.
Most fundraising may be done through the online Enthuse page however, the more successful units conduct additional fundraising within their barracks and communities. This is also an ideal way to get the families involved.
You may consider approaching your local supermarket to do a bucket collection, or you may want to run a charity social event that ties in with the continent that you are racing across – racing across Australia, for example, would be an ideal opportunity for a BBQ! Any money raised ‘offline’ can be added to your online total on Enthuse. If you need help to do this, please get in touch.
Fundraising Leader Board to Follow
Recent Activity
Recent Activity to Follow
Keep up with the action on Twitter!
Don’t forget to send in any photos or videos of your RTW activity so that we can use them on our webpage and social media feeds. Please send any media to racetheworld@soldierscharity.org.
Newsfeed to Follow
Contact Us
If you need any further help or assistance, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us in the Race the World Office:
ABF The Soldiers’ Charity
Hipswell Lodge
Catterick Garrison
North Yorkshire
DL9 3AX
racetheworld@soldierscharity.org
Thank you.