Macmillan Mighty Hikes

Hiking marathons in the most beautiful parts of the UK

Macmillan Cancer Support is one of the UK’s largest charities, providing physical, financial and emotional support so everyone with cancer can live life as fully as they can. In 2018, we won a tender to take on logistical delivery of their growing series of marathon ‘Mighty Hikes’ and we are proud to have renewed this contract twice and continue work to the present day.

What did Threshold recommend?

We initially ran a strategic review of the existing portfolio, from which we recommended resting several underperforming events and identified a number of untapped new locations. In 2018 and 2019 we delivered 8 nationwide marathon events including 3 brand new: Northumberland Coast, Wye Valley and Rob Roy Way.

Ever conscious of setting the series apart from emerging competition in the marketplace, we continue to add cost effective ways to enhance the participant experience. We’ve added things like live music, new photo technology linked to participant social media profiles and dedicated stretch and recovery areas.

How it looks now?

After a Covid-induced hiatus, we knew it would be more important than ever to grow capacity in the series, so we spent 2020 developing a further 4 locations that included a move into Wales and Northern Ireland. Half marathon options were also added to broaden the accessibility and reach of the series.

In 2022 we expanded to 14 locations and are in the process of scoping more – watch this space!

How did we do?

• A sell out event for Norfolk Coast, new to 2022 – this will expand to a two-day event for 2022
• Over 19,000 participants took part in the 2022 series, covering a total of 440,300 miles
• The series now covers 4 countries
• 273,350 pitstop snacks were distributed across the series
• We helped to raise a total of £11 million for Macmillan Cancer Support (So far!)

Testimonials

“The Mighty Hike series is a huge group effort and wouldn’t be possible without the work of everyone front of house and behind the scenes. From everyone on the Macmillan team, THANK YOU!”

Helen Hancock, Challenge Events Team Manager