What is the Mencap Round the World Challenge?
Round the World Challenge aims to support people with a
learning disability
A learning disability is to do with the way someone's brain works. It makes it harder for someone to learn, understand or do things.
to get out and get active in a way that is flexible, fun and motivating.
Mencap delivered Round the World Challenge, in partnership with Sport England and The National Lottery, across England from 2018 to 2022.
Can I still take part in the Round the World Challenge?
Yes! Although Mencap are no longer delivering the activities, people and organisations can still take part through our Round the World Challenge online portal.
The portal will allow you to sign up, request and access resources, track your activities and your journey!
Register your interest in taking part by visiting the Round the World Challenge portal now.
Benefits of taking part in the Round the World Challenge
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In total, over 4,000 people with a learning disability have taken part in Round the World challenge so far.
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The project has delivered over 29,035 hours of physical activity, through more than 44,500 activity sessions.
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Participants’ activity levels increased significantly, with the percentage reporting to be ‘Active’ rising from 26% to 42% (62%) between the start and end of programme.
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The percentage of participants feeling happy, accepted, valued and respected rising significantly across the programme.
How did the 2022 Round the World Challenge work?
Round the World Challenge is all about turning hours of fun physical activities and sports into a round the world adventure.
Choose from 3 different routes, log activity hours and receive regular rewards throughout.
Learnings from the 2022 Round the World Challenge
For a more detailed look at the impact the project has had we asked Canterbury Christ Church University to complete an independent study of the programme over the four years.
What people have told us about the Round the World Challenge
Rebecca, Carlisle Mencap
"We’ve got people coming that historically wouldn’t come to sporting activity events but have been attracted to the social element of Round the World Challenge."
Vijay Patel, Royal Mencap Society
“Taking part in Round The World Challenge has made me so confident and helped me get a paid job.
"I feel so much fitter and I’ve made loads of friends. I am now vice-captain of a 5-a-side Football team where I am one of the top goal scorers!
"Thank you to players from the National Lottery for giving us the money to help more people like me get involved.”
Kris, Bristol Bears Community Foundation
“We started designing a collaborative programme where we could use Round the World Challenge as a springboard for co-operative, leave your ego at the door, work. And Round the World Challenge provided a really nice opportunity where it was very person centred, very simple in concept to do that. There's now ten of us involved from the start."
Tom, Inclusive Sport
"We're passionate about using physical activity not only to make people more active, but also as an opportunity to improve their wellbeing and understanding of how to look after themselves."
Andrew, Warrington Wolves
"This town is a real health deprivation hotspot. So we're giving people access to social, health and wellbeing activities which aren't available to them. The knock-on effects are that it may save us money and save the council money, benefiting the town on larger scale."