History of the Founders' Challenge

The Origins of the Founders' Challenge

By Paul Lawrence

The Founders Jubilee Challenge event came about because of the fortunate conjunction of the London Group’s enthusiasm to host its first event in 1997, coinciding with the LDWA’s 25th anniversary, and the links with and support from Surrey Group.

In delving into the origins of the event and these connections I had a look at the early London Group committee minutes and the Newsletters (then edited by Colin) and the relevant Strider issues at that time (77 to 80), and made a few notes on the sequence. None of these explicitly showed that Surrey Group offered the use of the Founders Footpaths route – and with Sylvia Nagarkar, Don Bolton and Ann Sayer all now deceased no-one now may know!

These showed that the idea for London to hold an event started in 1996 and in December 1996 a Group sub-committee was agreed and set up to progress it, but no specific route was yet in mind. This sub-group comprised Sylvia, Don Bolton, Bill Thompson and Ann Sayer. Route ideas were invited and one or two suggestions were made, including one by Ann Sayer (The Enfield Chase). By April 1997 the sub-group had selected the Founders Footpaths as the basic route with the event to be called the Founders Jubilee Challenge, to mark the LDWA 25th anniversary. It seems very likely that Ann suggested using this route, with support of Surrey Group, and helped with defining how to organise it given her experience with Surrey.

Other links then with other Surrey members included Janet Chapman, at that time being national Events Secretary. In Strider 77 (April 1997, p71) is a mention that London Group ‘plans its first challenge event, …’with details available from Ann Sayer’ and in Strider 78 (August 1997) Janet flags the new event in the foreword to the events listings, where the event is listed. Ann Sayer acted as the original event entries secretary. Janet joined London Group in August 1997 (Newsletter No 8). Surrey Group offered to provide an event float (not needed). Thames Valley Group offered four marshals.

At this time around 1997, Surrey Group was already operating five challenge events in Surrey as listed in Strider: the Surrey Inns Kanter and the Winter Tanners in January, the Punchbowl in February, Surrey Summits in March and the Dunsfold Kanter in September, so had enough on their plate and were able to provide the Founders route as an appropriate Jubilee walk. This all suggests that it was the LDWA Groups’ members working together that led to the first London event, so a nice story of how the early groups helped the later ones get going.

A lot of the route is on the Surrey heaths and hills that are the Greensand ridge and are a contrasting, and nationally significant, landscape with different vegetation to the chalk downs and give the route a lot of variety. The Hurtwood Control areas are mainly on the Greensand and the dedications by the estates is itself an interesting story too and significant in the history of public access (covered in the ‘Walking on the LDWA Founders Footpaths’ document that we have used as a handout at the events, available here (LDWAFoundersHistoryA5Update2018).

1997 Gallery