RPMRT
The volunteer team this challenge raises money for. They cover roughly 350 square miles of East Lancashire, day or night, all year round, and every one of them is unpaid.
Visit RPMRT
Supporters
Nobody runs 60 miles on their own
Four organisations sit behind this challenge. One receives the money, one holds the account, one owns the routes, and one taught Tessa to run this far in the first place.
The four organisations behind the challenge
Rotary
People of action. Rossendale Rotary organise the Round the Hills Walk, hold the charity account for this challenge and pass the money on to local causes.
Visit Rossendale Rotary
Round the Hills
The community walk that has crossed these hills every year since 1966. Tessa's 60 miles are built from its two routes, and she joins the main walk at dawn.
About the walk
Trawden AC
Tessa's running club, based in Pendle. A club that takes runners of every pace and turns them into people who attempt things like this.
Visit Trawden ACRossendale and Pendle Mountain Rescue Team
RPMRT is the reason this challenge exists. Every pound raised goes to this team. They are a registered charity, number 508209, covering roughly 350 square miles of East Lancashire including Pendle Hill, the Rossendale valley and part of Greater Manchester.
The team is entirely voluntary and available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Members carry pagers, hold down ordinary jobs, and leave whatever they are doing when a callout comes. The Round the Hills Walk bucket collection has supported them before, and this challenge continues that.
Rotary Club of Rossendale
Rossendale Rotary hold the charity account that receives your donation. They organise the Round the Hills Walk every year and distribute what it raises to local causes. The account details on the donate page are theirs, which is why the reference Tess RTHW matters: it tells their treasurer that your money belongs to Tessa's challenge.
Rotary describe themselves as People of Action, which in Rossendale has meant nearly sixty years of getting several hundred people out walking across the hills on the first Sunday of September.
Rossendale Round the Hills Walk
The walk that this challenge is built on. First held in 1966, after Walter Whittaker and colleagues at the old Rawtenstall Sports Federation Council recognised what walking could do for people's health. It has run every year since.
The 2024 edition drew 730 walkers, and a good many dogs, around the 18 and 14 mile routes from Rossendale Sports Club at Marl Pits. Tessa's challenge uses both of those routes, and she joins the main walk for the final 18 miles.
Trawden Athletic Club
Tessa's running club. Trawden AC is based in Pendle in East Lancashire and welcomes runners of every age and ability. It has been voted England Athletics North West Club of the Year and Pendle Sports Awards Team of the Year.
Clubs like Trawden are where challenges like this one start: someone mentions an idea on a Tuesday night run, nobody laughs, and eighteen months later there is a website about it.
