Ben Completes Tsambika Extreme Challenge

Ben Moorhouse (41) of Halifax has completed the incredible feat of taking on the 300 steps of Tsambika Monastery on the Greek island of Rhodes – 100 times in one day. He is officially the first person to have completed this and made history in Rhodes with this achievement.

On Saturday August 17th Ben started his mammoth task at 6am just before sunrise and battled temperatures of 40 degrees with the humidity through the day and completed the extreme challenge at 9:15pm.

At the finish line four old son Apollon ran up to his daddy to walk with Ben in the final stages. Ben was greeted at the finish line by friends including Mr Yiannis Flevaris a long-time friend and supporter on the island.

Ben was supported all day by partner Gaynor Thompson and his four-year-old son Apollon.

This was the second summer extreme challenge for Ben after he walked 110 miles nonstop from Halifax to Blackpool to Manchester in July.

Ben had a £10,000 target for both of his extreme challenges and his so far raised £4890.

Ben has provided this very open statement following his latest achievement in Rhodes

I am very proud that I successfully completed my Tsambika Monastery extreme challenge in honour of our daughter Kallipateira, lap 6 for Luke David Banbury, the virgin Mary Tsambika and to raise funds for Professor Alexander Heazell and his team in Manchester.

From January 1st I dedicated and sacrificed every single day towards the two extreme challenges. This on top of working full time and running our charity. This is not just the training. This is taking over 2 weeks annual leave to be able to do the events and the media work around it. This is getting all the sponsorship in place and the promotion and publicity of the extreme challenges. This impacts our whole family as Gaynor must look after Apollon every night and weekend so I can go and train.

In all the years I have done extreme challenges I have never reached my target. I do not make this number up.

As a charity we must reach certain objectives during the year and incoming funding levels. In two years we have had no main fundraising from anyone else for our charity and we have no other form of financial support.

I take on the extreme challenges to help with my grief and during training and the extreme challenges I can let out all my grief and emotions. After my Tsambika Monastery event I checked the JustGiving page and hoped people would have really supported me to get as close to my target as possible. I was gutted seeing I was nowhere near my target knowing what has gone into this and what it took to complete the event and also the one in July. We both had signal issues through the day so could not post every hour – I was climbing the steps and Gaynor and Apollon were in the car providing me with drinks and food as required.

The upset did impact my time in Rhodes after as I could not switch off from the disappointment.

As a non celebrity or famous name I will never have the luxury of constant media coverage and they are very lucky to get this to raise their thousands or millions. I have done my best with everything I could have done.

There are people who would like me to ” retire ” but last month I did feel so well on Tsambika Mountain. As my friend John Parr Said – we keep fighting the good fight Ben and we keep going!

Right now I am going to try and look after myself mentally as this week since returning from Rhodes I have been feeling very low. After 8 months you can not just simply switch off and the disappointment of not getting close to my target has played its part. I also miss Rhodes so very much.

Myself and Gaynor will come together to discuss what we need to do but it is highly likely that I will once again have to put my trainers on in 2025 and possibly again during Baby Loss Awareness Week this October.

During the Tsambika Monastery extreme challenge I only had small stops for water, to speak with the lovely people and for the toilet.

Many people told me it is very hot but I did not feel the heat! In my mind I was very focused on what I needed to do.

The biggest challenge at times was the tourist on the steps but I just said excuse me and they let me come passed. Some of the steps were very dangerous and slippy . I witnessed many people falling on the same steps.

My friend Mr Yiannis Flevaris support on the day was wonderful. He is a beautiful human being.

I would like to thank everyone in Rhodes who supported me who said hello, gave me words of support , also provided me with drinks and took a selfie! The support from the locals of Rhodes was fantastic. Also a big thank you to Gaynor and Apollon – I could not have done this if not for them. To sit in the car for most of the day with the heat was a challenge in itself.

To make a donation with all funds going to the Maternal and Fetal Health research centre in Manchester please visit