Choosing the challenge

You are bringing together an overnight stay, an assault course and a lot of people. This section helps you pick a venue, a date and a plan that work.

Why the night before

The challenge starts the evening before for a practical reason. Everyone is in one place, rested enough and accounted for.

A previous version began with a morning minibus pickup, but bus arrived very late and the whole day was thrown off. Starting the night before removes that risk. It also lets you give the evening its own character, with a dinner, a talk and a night on the floor.

Finding the overnight venue

Look for a community centre, school or mosque hall that will allow an overnight stay. Put these questions to each candidate before you commit:

• permission for an overnight stay, including insurance and any licence it needs;
• a floor space big enough for everyone to sleep side by side;
• a kitchen or catering space for the dinner;
• toilets, washing facilities for wudu (the ritual washing before prayer) and a quiet space for prayer;
• fire safety, with clear exits, alarms and a named fire marshal;
• parking for minibuses;
• a private building overnight, with no unrelated users or visitors.

Book early. A school hall may be free at weekends, but overnight use usually needs senior approval.

For example, some organisers use the sports hall of a community school. Others use a mosque hall or a community centre. What matters is that the space is warm enough, safe, clean and private.

Finding the assault course

Book an established outdoor activity centre that offers private group hire of an assault course. Venues across the UK offer this, and many run charity events.

Put these questions to each course provider before you commit:

• a course with real obstacles, suitable for adults in everyday clothing;
• private hire, so only your group is on site;
• female instructors and marshals, or a willingness to be trained for the day;
• a route that can be walked, not run, with rucksacks carried;
• a waist-deep water crossing with proper safety cover;
• shallow, supervised water features;
• a final loop that returns through part of the course and on through woodland or fields.

Then ask about the facilities around the course:

• space for the meal and prayer;
• private changing facilities, with toilets nearby;
• a first-aid post and a clear emergency plan;
• parking for minibuses.

Tell the venue plainly what you need. The group will arrive having already walked several miles in the clothes they slept in. The mums will carry their own rucksacks throughout. They will pray on site. Ask for the venue’s risk assessment, public liability insurance and instructor qualifications, and keep copies.

Many venues will agree a special route for a charity day. Work it out with them early, and walk it with them if you can.

Some charities hand the whole course day to an event provider, who manages the route, the staff and the safety. If you do, agree in writing who holds responsibility for what, and who makes the call to shorten or stop.

Choosing the season and day

Between April and September suit this challenge best: soft ground, long enough days and water that is not so cold as to be dangerous.

Avoid winter and be careful with colder months. A cold-water wade and a wet afternoon bring a real risk of cold-related illness.

Friday evening into Saturday suits most groups. Before fixing a date, check it against:

• school terms and half-terms, which may affect childcare;
• Ramadan and the two Eid festivals;
• other community events;
• prayer times, which shape the whole day.

Keep a reserve date in hand for storms, flooding or hard frost.

Check sunset too. The day ends with a wade and a long walk back in wet clothes, so the course must finish in daylight. On shorter days, start earlier or shorten the final trek.

Getting there

Everyone travels together. Book minibuses with professional drivers, women where you can, and space for every mum and her rucksack.

Wherever possible, the minibuses should be on site the night before. They wait at the overnight venue, with drivers and a named lead on call. Nobody depends on a vehicle arriving in time on the morning.

Make sure your drivers are legally rested. An early start and a late finish are a long day, so check driver hours with the hire company. Book a spare vehicle or a back-up driver if you can.

Your transport checklist is short:

• book vehicles and drivers as early as the venues;
• walk the pickup point for the dawn walk with the drivers;
• confirm seat numbers, seatbelts and insurance;
• keep a list of who rides in which vehicle.

Count heads whenever a vehicle moves.

Guides and staffing

Each group has a guide: a trained female fitness instructor. She stays with her group from the evening before until the minibus home.

The guide does two jobs at once. She keeps the group safe and moving, and she holds the thread of the day: the reasons, the reflection and the encouragement.

Ask for guides who are:

• qualified fitness or outdoor instructors, ideally with first-aid training;
• comfortable with mums of mixed fitness and confidence;
• respectful of Islamic practice, including prayer and modest dress;
• able to talk to a tired, nervous mum and keep her going.

Besides the guides, you will need a small team. The roles at the end of this blueprint show who does what.

Safeguarding and safety

The mums are adults, but safeguarding still matters, especially overnight and in a risky environment. Use the checklist below with your own policy and the venue’s.

• A named safety lead (with a first-aid qualification) and a named safeguarding lead (with a current certificate)
• A signed participation, health and consent form for every mum
• Medical, allergy and dietary information, and emergency contacts, held by two organisers
• A written risk assessment, shared with both venues, covering the overnight stay, the dawn walk, the course, the meal and the lake
• A night-time rota, with at least two awake adults at all times
• A clear plan for injuries, cold, bad weather and lost participants
• A first aider with each group on the course and the trek

Ask your insurer and each venue exactly what is covered, and buy any extra cover you need.

For risk assessment guidance, see the Health & Safety page.

What it costs

Prices differ widely by region and provider. Get written quotes before you draw up a budget.

Cost should never keep a mum away, so taking part is free. Ask local businesses and national Muslim brands to sponsor the main costs (the venues, the course and the minibuses), and be clear with them about what their money covers.

A sponsor can be thanked in event materials and on giving pages, if they wish. A modest fashion retailer might supply prizes or donated clothes for the end of the day.

What to wear

Clothing is part of the challenge, so keep the rules short.

Mums arrive on the Friday evening in their normal abaya and hijab, with a suitable base layer underneath. A good base layer is running leggings or loose trousers with a long-sleeved top. They keep these on through the night and through the day.

These are the clothes they will sleep in, walk in and take onto the course. They do not change until the course is complete. The clothes are part of the challenge, but they should not be unsafe.

Ask everyone for sturdy, closed shoes or trainers with a good grip. A fitted underscarf helps keep a hijab in place.

Wet fabric cam be is heavy, and a full-length abaya more so. Suggest the mums wear one made of synthetic fabric like polyester or nida which dry more quickly.

You may like to give each group a team colour, exhibited by their headscarf. This can help instructors keep track and builds a little team spirit.

What to bring

Each mum arrives on the Friday with one rucksack, packed for the full challenge. Everything in it must be double-bagged in sealed bin bags, because the rucksack will be carried through mud and water.

Ask each mum to put in her rucksack:

• A full change of clothes: clean abaya, trousers, base layer, socks, dry underscarf and spare hijab
• Comfortable shoes to change into
• A small towel
• A prayer mat
• A water bottle, for wudu and drinking
• A bin bag for muddy clothes
• Personal medication and any first-aid items she needs

Toiletries for the night and a name label on the rucksack are the only extras.

The organisers supply the thin mats for sleeping. There are no pillows or blankets, and the rucksack is the pillow. Anyone with a health need can bring a blanket or extra layer, and no one will ask her why.

Food contributions

The charity hosts the dinner and the breakfast, and takes care of catering. Make sure all food is halal and meets every dietary need. Ask each mum for allergies in advance.