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Bermuda End to End
Held in May, the walk starts in the morning from St. George and ends at Royal Naval dockyard. Some who can't walk the entire 25 miles, join midway from Albuoy’s Point in Hamilton City and walk Middle to End for 14 miles to the dockyard. Some fun walkers even join close to the dockyard at Sandys Middle School.
The funds raised through individuals and establishments go to the various charities in Bermuda.
It all started with a modest effort by three friends Jon, Clive and Paul in 1988. They came to Bermuda as expats and worked together in an Insurance Company. They were the first to think of such a walk for the first time in the island.
Without any grand vision, the three friends took up the initiative of organizing a walk along the Bermuda Railway Trail that goes along the north shore for most part. But they had no organizing committee, no one to help and no water stops. Parts of the route were also uncertain as the railway trail does not exists in some parts.
End to End Bermuda
They first organized a shorter test walk from Barnes Corner in Southampton to the dockyard. The news was spread out mostly through colleagues and friends. Surprisingly large number of people turned up to participate in the test event.
The three friends also felt that it was as opportunity to raise some funds for the local charities through donations while fulfilling the need of such exercise. On the first year of this event, 186 persons participated in the walk and they together raised $43,200. The amount was dedicated to three charity houses - Hope Homes, The Bermuda Society for the Blind, and the Rape Crisis Center. With such success of the first walk in 1988, the annual event of End to End was born.
During the initial years, the event grew rapidly. It soon included teams with medical, financial and logistics support.
Many local companies, clubs and societies started to support the event through funds or by offering support facilities and supplies. Today well over 110 organizations contribute to cause of the event.
Many initiatives were added to make the event more interesting and included cycling, swimming, rowing, riding and lot more. New ideas came in from time to time. Once there was a plan to add a Dance Marathon to the event which never really took off. The organizers occasionally switched the starting point although now it is fixed to St. George due to logistics reasons. Celebrities were brought in at times and there were events for kids, marching bands, training walks, raffle prizes and lot more.
Eventually the three expat founders had to leave Bermuda, handing over the charge to the committee which is today formed from the local community. Paul was the last to leave in 2001. Today over 2,500 people participate and the annual fund raised is well over $300,000.
The End to End is now a part of Bermuda's regular annual calendar events and continues to raise huge money for the charity organizations.
Update May 2013: This year the event was held on May 4 and the participation is even larger than previous year. There were 2,700 participants who officially registered with the event and hundreds unofficially joined along the way. Additionally there were 500 volunteers and lot many spectators on the streets.
Update May 2012: This was the 25th annual event and around 2,600 people participated in this year's end to end, which is several hundreds more than the previous year.
Further Information
Bermuda End-to-End Charitable Trust
Suite 544, 48 Par La Ville Road
Hamilton HM 11, Bermuda
Event Hotline: 441/292-6992
Office Phone: 441/292-9741
Website: https://bermudaendtoend.bm
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