In August 2015 Bradford Bulls supporters Ben Moorhouse (33) and Gaynor Thompson (35) walked the full east coast of Rhodes in 3 stages in intense temperatures of between 40 and 50C. Nearly everyone on the island said it was impossible to do the walk and with many doubters in the UK Ben and Gaynor wanted to prove a point whilst raising funds for The Steve Prescott Foundation. The couple used Steve Prescott’s belief “What the mind believes, the body achieves " throughout the challenge. They were officially the first people to walk the east coast in 3 days in the August heat and were rewarded by a civic reception at the town hall in Rhodes. Ben and Gaynor raised an incredible £2417.52 for the Steve Prescott Foundation and spread the word of the SPF to a different country and culture.
Ben knew at the completion of stage 1 in Afandou that he could take this walk to a new level. He said to his friend George “I could have carried on ". When Ben and Gaynor arrived at Prasonisi at the finish line on day 3 they knew they had more to give. Although they had completed the challenge they knew they must take the challenge to a new level.
Ben and Gaynor have decided to return to Rhodes in August to beat their current record and rewrite history by completing the East coast walk in an amazing TWO days. This time they will start at the most southern point at Prasonisi and the finish line will be the entrance at Mandraki Harbour in Rhodes which will give more people the opportunity to come and see them finish.
Ben and Gaynor launched the extreme challenge walk on Christmas Day. You can watch their launch video here where the challenge is also explained in Greek.
August 1st 2016 :- Prasonisi to Afandou Square ( town hall ) Total 50 Miles . During this stage Ben and Gaynor will go via Lindos and go to the top of the Lindos Acropolis.
August 2nd 2016:- Afandou Beach, Aggelos Kantina Paralia to Mandraki Harbour Entrance , Total 20 Miles. This stage Ben and Gaynor will also walk to the monastery at the highest point of Faliraki.
Ben says, " Steve Prescott always looked at ways to make an extreme challenge even more challenging and this is why we have decided to go back to Rhodes and walk the east coast in two days whilst walking in the intense heat . People said we could do not the challenge last year in 3 days as it was " too hot " . Funny how all these people suddenly went quiet ! I and Gaynor have to take our walking to a new level and by doing this extreme walk in two days we will certainly be doing something that only a few people would even attempt, if any ! Once again we have our good friend Boston Ndoole from Channel 4s Walking the Nile who walked with Levison Wood giving us expert advice for the extreme challenge.
We will go to Rhodes in 2016 fitter, stronger and totally focused for the challenge that will face us. We aim to raise fantastic funds again for the SPF in the Million pound year with Steve been our inspiration behind everything we do. We have many things lined up to get the awareness of the Foundation out there in the UK , Greece and further afield. We will also promote Rhodes as a holiday destination as this is our way of helping the people of Rhodes. Hopefully people will visit Rhodes through the promotion of our challenge. We will continue to give the message that if Steve Prescott did the extreme challenges he did whilst been so poorly and in so much pain, what’s a long walk in the hot sun for us? Also when people in Rhodes say " it’s too hot " , we hope they will think again and realise what we will have done walking the full east coast - this time in two days.’’
In preparation for the extreme challenge Ben and Gaynor will again make huge sacrifices in order to succeed. This includes a strict alcohol free nutritional plan. They train at their local Pure Gym in Halifax 5 times per week starting at 4am before they go to work. They have already completed many long distance training walks like Halifax to Skipton and back which is 50 miles in 10.5 hours. Ben and Gaynor are ahead of their schedule this time last year.
Our Sponsors
Ben and Gaynor have also been incredibly busy securing sponsors for their Extreme Challenge.
Gaynor says “We would like to thank all the sponsors who have come onboard to support us in 2016. "
Please show your support by downloading our poster to put up on display here
‘The sponsors who have given us the funding to do the challenge this year, Provident Financial, Thomson Holidays, Sheard Packaging and Dog Oil.’
Thank you to Blue Point Properties and Kostas in Rhodes for supporting us by providing use of their company car for our support team during our extreme challenge walk.
Gaynor and Ben have also secured accommodation at the Lighthouse Restaurant- Cafe, Prasonisi for the night before the extreme challenge walk.
Ben says, ‘Thank you to Petra and Irini for supporting us and providing accommodation.’ www.prasonisilighthouse.com
The SPF would like to thank Ben and Gaynor for their dedication and determination for their Extreme Challenge. They are making an enormous personal sacrifice as they prepare for their challenge. We hope people will support them and reward their commitment and dedication.
You can follow Ben and Gaynor’s journey and extreme challenge walk on their Facebook page
www.facebook.com/rhodeschallengewalk
Please sponsor Ben and Gaynor via their Justgiving page.