Hello. Has anyone heard of the Lord of the Rings Virtual Challenge? It showed up in my FB feed and looks interesting. It's a fitness challenge to virtually walk from the Shire to Mordor. There are five medals to win along the way. Apparently your exercise or distance is kept track of via app that tracks your journey on a Middle Earth Map. It's kind of pricey too but I'm tempted to join to see if it's legit. Have any of you heard of it or know if it's the real deal?
It's Lord of the Rings Virtual Challenge from Conqueror Virtual Challenges.
There are a lot of other challenges as well. Also, please note that I am not advertising this. I'm just curious about it.
LOTR Virtual Challenge
Hey Raythri, welcome back! Sorry I have to say, but I don't know this application nor the challenge you're mentioning. Though if you want to do, good luck with it! I am not in fitness or anything of sport. Perhaps someone else around is?
Just call me Aiks or Aikári. Notify is off.
Find me stuff in Gondolin.
And let us embark to Valinor!
Find me stuff in Gondolin.
And let us embark to Valinor!
I actually started talking about this in the runners thread, I signed up to do it as well. I have had friends that have done OTHER challenges from this company (and yes it is legit) I know right now the current medals are sold out (I got in before they sold out so my medals should be saved for me despite this going to take probably 2 years for me to do minimum.)
I'm currently 13 km in (despite the massive blizzard that has kept me in my house for the most part) for 3 days my snow blowing today got me a lot of steps and it's only half finished so should do decently tomorrow as well out of the 233.4 Km that I need to do to finish the first leg which is the shire.
The app itself DOES NOT track you distance you can add in distance manually or you can use something like a fitbit, garmin, I personally am using Google Fit and it auto tracks daily for steps but for workouts/extras I need to add those on my own manually - Snow blowing for example was only counting as 500 steps and I know it's more than that and it does have a chart to convert other work outs into steps body pushing a whole snow blower through wet snow was not on that list so I went with the closest thing for figuring out steps I probably got LESS than I actually should have but that's fine.
with google fit it DOES auto count those steps basically at midnight for you if you haven't put in anything yourself.
I'll also admit I did not bother buying any other merch - the shirt designs are meh to me but the medals look super cool and I hope it really does come with a one ring like it shows.
I'm currently 13 km in (despite the massive blizzard that has kept me in my house for the most part) for 3 days my snow blowing today got me a lot of steps and it's only half finished so should do decently tomorrow as well out of the 233.4 Km that I need to do to finish the first leg which is the shire.
The app itself DOES NOT track you distance you can add in distance manually or you can use something like a fitbit, garmin, I personally am using Google Fit and it auto tracks daily for steps but for workouts/extras I need to add those on my own manually - Snow blowing for example was only counting as 500 steps and I know it's more than that and it does have a chart to convert other work outs into steps body pushing a whole snow blower through wet snow was not on that list so I went with the closest thing for figuring out steps I probably got LESS than I actually should have but that's fine.
with google fit it DOES auto count those steps basically at midnight for you if you haven't put in anything yourself.
I'll also admit I did not bother buying any other merch - the shirt designs are meh to me but the medals look super cool and I hope it really does come with a one ring like it shows.
Sereg a Dîn
Hello. Great to hear this is legit. The medals for each of the 5 sections of Middle Earth look amazing. A few years ago I joined a virtual 5k, paid in about 50 bux to join, funds were supposed to go to a charity and I was supposed to get a medal within 2 months of finishing my 5k. Never heard from the race company again. I also figured the LotR one would sell out and wanted to join asap but my previous virtual 'run' rip off has me hesitant. I'll try an easier to achieve distance first as a test run.
Good luck getting through the Shire, Fuin, it's a longer stroll than it seems. Would you post a pic of your medal when you get it? Would be awesome to see if the medal does include the ring.
Good luck getting through the Shire, Fuin, it's a longer stroll than it seems. Would you post a pic of your medal when you get it? Would be awesome to see if the medal does include the ring.
Yeah I will for sure I'm currently at 30km in out of 231km which is pretty impressive for me.
I will certainly post pictures and when I get the medal (I do know atm they have stated they've sold out of medals so the new registrants will have to wait, but that warning was not up when I was registering so I assume mine are saved for me) Worse comes to worse they will be delayed.
I will certainly post pictures and when I get the medal (I do know atm they have stated they've sold out of medals so the new registrants will have to wait, but that warning was not up when I was registering so I assume mine are saved for me) Worse comes to worse they will be delayed.
Sereg a Dîn
Hmm. It looks interesting, but I'm too stingy to pay extra since already paying for Strava to get more practical details on my training. :D
~ I will be a healer, and love all things that grow and are not barren ~
I joined the challenge last month.
I formed a fellowship of four of us and together, with our combined steps, we made it across the Shire and to Bree in 8 days. I've filled out the form for my medal and am currently waiting for it. I will post back here if and when it ever arrives.
It was a fun experience once I got through some issues I had with logging in. Had to use the chat support to sort the problem out. The rest of my fellowship had no problems though. The app has a map and shows how far along our fellowship had progressed. Got a virtual racer bib and number. A finisher certificate. And the creators of the challenges claim they will plant a tree or reduce plastic for every milestone reached. I really enjoyed the little postcards we got along the way. But then again, I am really easily amused lol. So far it was a fun experience. I really hope my medal comes in. I'm waiting on that before I move on to Rivendell.
Pele, you're right about the training part. We don't get actual training or coaching. Just encouragement from others in the facebook group.
What I like about the app is I just let my fitbit connect to the app and update for me. Or, if needed I could log my steps manually. The app makes it much easier. When I had only a couple of kms to go to a milestone it inspired me to get that little bit more exercise in for the day.
PS: I really hope my medal comes in.
I formed a fellowship of four of us and together, with our combined steps, we made it across the Shire and to Bree in 8 days. I've filled out the form for my medal and am currently waiting for it. I will post back here if and when it ever arrives.
It was a fun experience once I got through some issues I had with logging in. Had to use the chat support to sort the problem out. The rest of my fellowship had no problems though. The app has a map and shows how far along our fellowship had progressed. Got a virtual racer bib and number. A finisher certificate. And the creators of the challenges claim they will plant a tree or reduce plastic for every milestone reached. I really enjoyed the little postcards we got along the way. But then again, I am really easily amused lol. So far it was a fun experience. I really hope my medal comes in. I'm waiting on that before I move on to Rivendell.
Pele, you're right about the training part. We don't get actual training or coaching. Just encouragement from others in the facebook group.
What I like about the app is I just let my fitbit connect to the app and update for me. Or, if needed I could log my steps manually. The app makes it much easier. When I had only a couple of kms to go to a milestone it inspired me to get that little bit more exercise in for the day.
PS: I really hope my medal comes in.
My medal came in right before my furcon. It is fantastic and beautiful
Sereg a Dîn
@Raythri Do tell when the medal arrives!
@Fuin Elda Post a pic for curious folks?
I really like the idea that they invest in a good cause! I took inspiration from this to make the running count for something, and am currently looking into joining the site which donates participation fees to renovating ruined cities in Ukraine.
As a random thought, I'm still wondering how to combine actual walking/running with RP. Should set up a travel RPG across ME or something...
@Fuin Elda Post a pic for curious folks?
I really like the idea that they invest in a good cause! I took inspiration from this to make the running count for something, and am currently looking into joining the site which donates participation fees to renovating ruined cities in Ukraine.
As a random thought, I'm still wondering how to combine actual walking/running with RP. Should set up a travel RPG across ME or something...
~ I will be a healer, and love all things that grow and are not barren ~
@Pele Alarion Honestly I know I would love some sort of Travel RP I know I'm just hopping back in but would love that.
Took me a bit but here are the pics!!!


It's quite nice, the ring is about the same quality as the ones you use to get with the bookmarks but that's fine by me. I'm excited to get the fellowship one and see where the ring gets tucked in there! (I am only at 200km out of 1000 though on that one so it's a ways off yet)
Took me a bit but here are the pics!!!


It's quite nice, the ring is about the same quality as the ones you use to get with the bookmarks but that's fine by me. I'm excited to get the fellowship one and see where the ring gets tucked in there! (I am only at 200km out of 1000 though on that one so it's a ways off yet)
Sereg a Dîn
I got it a week and half ago or so. The medal IS fantastic and beautiful! Much better quality than I expected it to be.
I've been terribly busy for a few weeks, planning for vacation and 5ks and Fan Expo and getting ready to head back to school. Was getting pretty stressed out but when that medal finally arrived all that stress just magically evaporated.
And with Fan Expo featuring the 4 Hobbits, I got 'Sam' and 'Frodo' to sign my medal. I intended to get all four hobbits but times were off and the waits in line were hellishly long and slow. Lucky I got Sean on that last day for his last signing. He knew about the medals and said, "I've seen quite a few of these. I'm really going to try this soon." He signed my box, smiled at me and said, "Congratulations on your journey." Hearing him say that was worth the wait, if I do say so myself. So Sean may be joining the challenge at some point in the near future. Perhaps.
My fellowship and I also finished the journey from Bree to Rivendell and are now outside the gates of Moria. I'm going to suggest to my fellowship that we switch to 'book' mode (longer distance) because 'story' mode (shorter and meant for one person) is not enough of a challenge... for me at least. Hope my Fellowship Medal gets here soon.
My medal (tried to post but it's not working, will get back to it later)
I've been terribly busy for a few weeks, planning for vacation and 5ks and Fan Expo and getting ready to head back to school. Was getting pretty stressed out but when that medal finally arrived all that stress just magically evaporated.
And with Fan Expo featuring the 4 Hobbits, I got 'Sam' and 'Frodo' to sign my medal. I intended to get all four hobbits but times were off and the waits in line were hellishly long and slow. Lucky I got Sean on that last day for his last signing. He knew about the medals and said, "I've seen quite a few of these. I'm really going to try this soon." He signed my box, smiled at me and said, "Congratulations on your journey." Hearing him say that was worth the wait, if I do say so myself. So Sean may be joining the challenge at some point in the near future. Perhaps.
My fellowship and I also finished the journey from Bree to Rivendell and are now outside the gates of Moria. I'm going to suggest to my fellowship that we switch to 'book' mode (longer distance) because 'story' mode (shorter and meant for one person) is not enough of a challenge... for me at least. Hope my Fellowship Medal gets here soon.
My medal (tried to post but it's not working, will get back to it later)
It does look pretty cool!
@Raythri Oh, that is really great that you got signatures and all that! Feeling a bit envious.
@Raythri Oh, that is really great that you got signatures and all that! Feeling a bit envious.
~ I will be a healer, and love all things that grow and are not barren ~