Guardian One Mile Challenge

Overview

The Guardian Revival One Mile Challenge is about honoring & memorializing 31 guardians we’ve lost to suicide and raising money to reduce the rates of suicide among our guardian populations. This is a virtual challenge that operates on the honor system. Participants walk wherever they are and interact with the challenge online, self-reporting their daily mile.

We offer four entry divisions to participate in the challenge, each requiring a specific amount of weight to carry during your one-mile walk.

• Champion: 0-10 lbs / 0 - 5 kgs

• Elite: 20 lbs / 9 - 10 kgs

• Ironman: 40 lbs / 18 - 19 kgs

• Juggernaut: 60 lbs / 26 -28 kgs

There will be no disqualifications, passes/failures, hard feelings, or first/last place finishers, nor do we have “challenge officials” who are policing you, ensuring that you’re adhering to the rules. If a day is skipped, the participant should make it up. Again, this challenge operates on the honor system.

What’s important is that you (the participant) are challenging yourself, pushing yourself beyond your comfort zone, and experiencing some level of physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual discomfort as a visceral representation of the invisible wounds our guardians carry with them on a daily basis.

 

Registration & Entry

• Registration will take place during suicide awareness month, from the 1st to the 30th of September. Participants must sign up by 11:59 PM on September 30th. Registration will close at midnight. No exceptions.

• The entry fee is $31 + the processing fee, which we ask participants to pay.

• Each participant, no matter the entry division, will receive a Guardian Merchandise Kit in the mail during the last week of September. Those who sign up during the final days of September may receive their merchandise kits up to 7 days following registration.

 

100% of the profit from your entry fee (not the processing fee) will go directly to support our programs at Guardian Revival.

• We have calculated through fair market assessments that $25 of your $31 entry fee is tax deductible as we are providing a merchandise kit to you valued at $6.00.

• Thus, your donation ($25) will support Guardian Revival, a 501(c) (3) charitable organization, EIN 84-3585765 in accordance with IRS law, and is deemed tax-deductible absent any limitations on deductibility applicable to you as a particular taxpayer. No goods or services were provided in exchange for your contribution of $25.

• If you choose to add a GR Shirt to your order during registration, $10 of that is tax deductible, totaling $35.

 

The Challenge

• The challenge begins at 12:00 AM on October 1st and ends at 12:00 AM on November 1st.

• Every day, for all 31 days in October, participants must walk one mile with a prescribed amount of weight (as defined in your registration division).

• One mile is defined as:

  • 5280 ft

  • 1609.34 m

  • 1.61 km

  • 1759.99 yds

  • Four laps around a standard athletic track is acceptable

• Each morning at 4:00 AM EST, Guardian Revival HQ will release an email and a social media post memorializing the “Guardian of the Day,” to which participants will dedicate their daily one-mile walk. This will repeat for all 31 days in October.

 

Rules & Regulations

Treadmills are acceptable but discouraged from being used for the heavier-weight divisions due to safety concerns. Use at your own risk.

Participants must utilize GPS, google maps, or a legitimate mapping or distance measuring software/device to verify distance. A car odometer is acceptable.

Carrying the weight

• Weight is to be carried as a single “weight” or “unit,” meaning you cannot use two different weights totaling your prescribed weight to be carried.

  • For example, if a participant is registered in the Juggernaut division, they cannot use two independent 30 lb dumbbells carried in both hands totaling 60 lbs. They must use one single 60 lb weight.

• Acceptable weights:

  • Dumbbell

  • Kettlebell

  • Barbell Plate

  • Adjustable dumbbell (e.g., Bowflex)

  • Fatbell (dumbbell-kettlebell hybrid)

• Weight is to be carried by the participant's hands ONLY.

  • The only acceptable form of carrying weight is the “suitcase carry.” The suitcase carry is a single-handed side carry (as if you were walking with a suitcase) that targets the muscles in your core, shoulders, upper back, and arms while also working the lower body, specifically the quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, hip flexors, and calves.

  • You are allowed to switch hands as many times as possible.

  • Acceptable resting methods during the one-mile walk: resting on the shoulders, head or neck, chest carry, or a double hand hold (like a kettlebell swing).

  • While resting, you are NOT allowed to be walking and must remain stationary until ready to begin your suitcase carry again.

  • You are not allowed to drop, rest, or hang the weight on ANYTHING at any point in time - you are to remain weight-bearing the ENTIRE mile.

  • NO rucks, backpacks, straps, ropes, or any other fixture apparatus to aid weight bearing - HANDS ONLY.

  • Grip tape is allowed on the weight handle.

Of course, please use your best judgment for what you are capable of to ensure your safety and avoid injury. 

 

 

Fundraising

The mission of this challenge is to raise money and awareness to combat veteran & first responder suicide and to honor 31 Guardians who we’ve lost to suicide.

Guardian Revival will receive donations from three separate channels during this challenge:

• Participant Entry Fees
  • Guardian Revival will receive a donation per participant sign-up (the difference between the entry fee and merchandise kit).
• Program Sponsorships
  • We encourage individuals and organizations who are not participating in the challenge to sign up for a sponsorship package.
  • Additionally, challenge participants who’ve already signed up for entry are encouraged to use sponsorship packages as peer-to-peer fundraising goals and to use customized language on their page to explain what their fundraising goal will equate to.
  • For example, a participant can set a goal of $5,000 to be raised in order to sponsor a Companion Dog Package through our Boots & Paws program.
• Participant Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Campaigns
  • Each participant will automatically be set up with a default peer-to-peer fundraising page, and it’s strongly encouraged that participants raise funds through this page as it offers a personalized opportunity to raise additional funds through your own network.
  • Peer-to-peer fundraising is encouraged but not required.