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The Return of the King Virtual Challenges
Gondor Virtual Challenge
Will the White Tree of the King blossom once again? Witness as the rightful King of Gondor is crowned and a new age of peace begins in Middle-earth.
Gondor Virtual Challenge takes you on Aragorn's journey through the heart of the battle of Minas Tirith and towards the Black Gate for Man’s last stand against Sauron.
This challenge offers two routes: 70mi /112km (recommended for running and walking) and 662mi /1065km (recommended for cycling).
Each time you complete a distance-based exercise such as running, walking, cycling, swimming, etc., you advance along the map of Middle-earth.
Complete your fitness journey with Gondor Virtual Challenge today and earn a stunning medal!
Earn the stunning Gondor Medal
Celebrate your achievement with a stunning medal worthy of the next King of Gondor.
Emblems of Gondor mark this medal with beauty and nobility: the White Tree upon King Elessar's Crown and the Seven stars that are set upon Gondorian banners and armor.
The last medal of the Return of the King Series gets mailed to you once you have completed the challenge.
“You must come to Minas Tirith by another road."
Legends say that only the truly worthy may see the journey through to its end! Complete all three challenges in sequential order and get a medal for each!
The Return of the King is a standalone series — you can get started even if you haven’t completed any other THE LORD OF THE RINGS Challenges yet.
Experience the journey with Stories, Postcards and Local Spots
As you progress through the challenge, you'll unlock Postcards, Stories and Local Spots when you reach certain milestones.
The Stories are inspired by the narrative of the film trilogy with handpicked images and captions that add rich contextual information.
Each Postcard comes with challenge-specific artwork designs and exciting information highlighting key locations.
Virtually Travel from The Paths of the Dead to The Black Gate
To make the story that much more immersive, we designed the Middle-earth map from scratch based on THE LORD OF THE RINGS film trilogy.
Every time you add a workout, you advance on your way to Mordor.
Watching your virtual avatar move from one side of the world to another will make your fitness progress that much more tangible.
Track your progress in Middle-earth
You can track all your miles (or kilometers) across Middle-earth directly in our mobile iOS and Android apps.
You can enter an activity into the app manually by entering its distance or by syncing your activities from your favorite fitness tracker or smartwatch.
Currently, we support: Apple Watch & Health, Google Fit, Garmin, Fitbit, Adidas Running, Strava, Runkeeper, Map My Run, Map My Ride, and Map My Walk.
Pick a cause
We will plant a tree or stop 10 plastic bottles from entering the ocean for every 20% of each challenge you complete.
There’s no extra work or cost for you — just make sure you keep exercising!
By the end of each challenge, you will have planted 5 trees or have stopped 50 plastic bottles from entering the ocean. Imagine what we can achieve as a community!
So far, we have planted 4,887,336 trees and stopped 732,470 plastic bottles from entering the ocean.
Gather your fellowship
Want to rack up mileage faster? Now it’s easier than ever through the fellowship feature.
Grab the helm and create a fellowship that will keep you accountable and help you through your Middle-earth journey.
The number of members in a fellowship is unlimited, so gather as many brave heroes as you want.
Virtual challenge, real community
Fighting Sauron or getting active requires a great deal of motivation and encouragement from others.
Our private Facebook group can offer you exactly that. Every day 215,000 people from all over the world inspire and encourage each other to keep crushing their fitness goals.
Collect all three medals
Gondor Virtual Challenge is part of our epic The Return of the King Challenge Series.
Follow Aragorn as he makes his way through Middle-earth on a quest to help Frodo destroy the One Ring and unite the Men of Middle-earth against the evil forces of Sauron.
Each of the three virtual challenges rewards you with a glorious medal, inspired by the places on the route traveled by Aragorn.
Follow Frodo from The Shire to Mordor in order to complete your ultimate THE LORD OF THE RINGS Collection.
+ All This!
Access anywhere
Log and see your progress on our iPhone and Android mobile app.
Fellowship or solo
Get a group of friends or workmates together and share the load, or take on the challenge by yourself.
Choose your own timeframe
Pick your start date and choose how many weeks you want to set as your goal to complete the challenge depending on your exercise type, fitness level and how many other people there are in your team (if any).
Multiple exercise types
Any distance-based activity can count toward reaching the finish line. Do cartwheels if that’s your thing.
Sign up and start your journey!
THE LORD OF THE RINGS
ULTIMATE BUNDLE
$399.92 USD
$299.95 USD
- 8x Challenge Entries
- 8 Stunning finisher’s medals
- Follow Frodo through 5 challenges and Aragorn through 3 challenges across Middle-earth
- Get 788 stories and 66 postcards
- Plant 40 real trees or stop 400 plastic bottles from entering the ocean
Medals dispatched on completion
The Return of the King
1x Entry
$49.99 USD
- 1x Challenge Entry
- Stunning finisher’s medal
- Follow Aragorn in his quest — this single challenge entry is valid for you to begin your journey or to continue if you have already started
- Get 20+ stories and 4+ postcards
- Plant 5 real trees or stop 50 plastic bottles from entering the ocean
Medals dispatched on completion
THE LORD OF THE RINGS
The Return of the King Bundle
$149.97 USD
$126.95 USD
- 3x Challenge Entries
- 3 Stunning finisher’s medals
- Virtually Travel from Rohan to Gondor
- Get 321 stories and 15 postcards
- Plant 15 real trees or stop 150 plastic bottles from entering the ocean
Medals dispatched on completion
Frequently Asked Questions
You've got questions, we've got answers - let's do this!
Which countries do you accept entries from?
We welcome entries from all over the world* and we offer global shipping on medals and apparel. On average we have people from over 80 countries from around the world enter our challenges each month!
*There are a few countries where we currently face delivery restrictions due to various international regulations and operational challenges: Belarus, Central African Republic, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Guinea-Bissau, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Libya, Mali, Myanmar (Burma), North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea), Palestine, Russia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Yemen.
How do I access the challenge once I’ve signed up?
The best way to enjoy our Conqueror Challenges is through our mobile app "The Conqueror Challenges" which can be downloaded through the App Store or Google Play.
You will be asked to create an account in the App. Once you have logged in, you'll need to enter the join code that was emailed to you after purchase in the “ENTER THE JOIN CODE” section.
How long do the challenges go for?
You get to choose the time-frame in which you will complete your Challenge, from 1 week to 24 months. This goal can be easily changed at any time if you want to shorten it or extend (within the 24 month limit).
You can change this goal as many times as you like during the event.
What is a fellowship and how does it work?
A fellowship is a team of people who are sharing a common quest. Joining or creating a fellowship will help you rack up the mileage faster. The fellowship can be easily continued through all the challenges.
**Each member of the fellowship is required to purchase their own entry into the challenge. Each of them will receive their own medal at the end.**
Basically you share the distance with the other people in your team. Each time a team member posts a distance your team icon will advance along the map. You will also be able to see information about your own achievements and rankings separate from the team.
What is a Challenge Mode?
For certain THE LORD OF THE RINGS Challenges, when starting the journey, you will have the option to choose between Story Mode and Long mode.
While the Story Mode is recommended for those travelling by foot, the Long Mode is recommended for those who choose to cycle through Middle-earth.
Being in the Story Mode you have the opportunity to experience either Frodo's journey in THE LORD OF THE RINGS Virtual Challenge Series or Aragorn's journey in The Return of the King Virtual Challenge Series, just focusing on the most eventful parts. The Long mode has the same amount of content as Story mode, but with longer distances to suit cyclists.
How do I enter a distance towards the challenge?
You can log distances using two methods:
1) Manually - Either on the web or via our iPhone and Android apps. Select your exercise type, add a distance and boom, you’re done. You can add a screenshot of your tracker if you wish but it is not required.
2) Automatically – Via the range of apps and devices that we connect with. Currently, we support: Apple Watch & Health, Google Fit, Garmin, Fitbit, Adidas Running, Strava, Runkeeper, Map My Run, Map My Ride, and Map My Walk.
How long does it take to complete the full distance?
The amount of time it will take you or your team to complete this journey depends on your fitness level, exercise type and team size.
You can set your own time-frame goal from 1 week to 24 months to complete each challenge. This goal can be easily changed at any time if you want to shorten it or extend (within the 24 month limit).
Do THE LORD OF THE RINGS Virtual Challenges cover the books or the movies?
Both THE LORD OF THE RINGS Virtual Challenge Series were designed based on THE LORD OF THE RINGS film trilogy.
The 5 THE LORD OF THE RINGS Virtual Challenges focus on Frodo’s journey and the 3 The Return of the King Virtual Challenges focus on Aragorn's journey.
What does it mean that THE LORD OF THE RINGS challenges are locked?
The challenges inside Frodo or Aragorn’s journeys must each be completed in sequential order, hence you can start the next challenge in the series only after you complete at least 90% of the previous one.
Start either in the Shire by following Frodo’s journey with the 5 THE LORD OF THE RINGS Challenges, or in Rohan, following Aragorn with the 3 The Return of the King Challenges.
Only those with the determination and bravery to see the journey through to its end will be able to claim the final medal.
You can either acquire one challenge or both THE LORD OF THE RINGS and The Return of the King Series as bundles. You can also acquire the ULTIMATE THE LORD OF THE RINGS BUNDLE which includes both series, with eight challenges in total.
What types of exercise count? Can I log multiple exercise types?
Same with the usual challenges, you can log most types of distance based exercise, such as running, walking, cycling, swimming, rowing etc. For other non distance based exercises such as yoga or cross fit, we have a handy conversion chart that converts time doing these activities into distance equivalents.
You can log any distance based exercise that you do. The common ones that we have icons for are: Running (indoor and outdoor), Cycling (indoor and outdoor), Rowing, Walking, Skiing, Swimming, Elliptical, Wheelchair. All others can be logged in the “other” category. You can also convert other exercises, such as sports that you play or going to the gym into distances. We can provide information on some ways to do this.
Do I have to complete THE LORD OF THE RINGS Virtual Challenges, in order to join The Return of the King Virtual Challenges?
No, this is not mandatory. You can start The Return of the King Virtual Challenges even if you have not yet completed any of THE LORD OF THE RINGS Virtual Challenges. You can also progress through each series at the same time.
Start either in the Shire by following Frodo’s journey with the 5 THE LORD OF THE RINGS Challenges, or in Rohan, following Aragorn with the 3 The Return of the King challenges.
To make it to the end of each series, you must complete their respective challenges in sequential order.
What is the difference between THE LORD OF THE RINGS Virtual Challenges Series and The Return of the King Virtual Challenges Series?
THE LORD OF THE RINGS Challenge Series follows Frodo from the peaceful Shire to barren Mordor through 5 virtual challenges.
The Return of the King Challenge Series follows Aragorn from Rohan to Gondor through 3 virtual challenges.
Although it doesn't matter what series you start with, you have to complete their challenges in sequential order.
How do I access the challenges once I’ve signed up? Can I use the Join codes purchased for THE LORD OF THE RINGS Virtual Challenges, to enter The Return of the King Virtual Challenges Series?
The best way to enjoy our Conqueror Challenges is through our mobile app "The Conqueror Challenges" which can be downloaded through the App Store or Google Play. You will be asked to create an account on the App. Once you have logged in, you'll click "ENTER JOIN CODE" and enter the join code that was emailed to you when you purchased.
THE LORD OF THE RINGS Virtual Challenges Series and The Return of the King Virtual Challenges Series follow two separate journeys. Thus, the join entry codes will be different. For example, if you purchase THE LORD OF THE RINGS Virtual Challenges Bundle of 5 challenges, the entry codes e-mailed to you will only be eligible to unlock this specific journey. The same is applicable for The Return of the King Virtual Challenges. If you purchase the ULTIMATE THE LORD OF THE RINGS Virtual Challenges Bundle of 8, you will receive 5 THE LORD OF THE RINGS Virtual Challenges entry codes and 3 The Return of the King Virtual Challenges entry codes.
Do join codes expire?
Yes, unused join codes do have an expiration date if purchased after Oct 10th, 2023.
Licensed challenges expire either when the licence contract expires or 2 years after purchase date.
Original challenges expire 3 years after purchase date.
This is important to remember when purchasing bundles.
*The Elvis Presley Virtual Challenges must be completed by June 30, 2026, to successfully finish the challenge.
© New Line Productions, Inc. All rights reserved. THE LORD OF THE RINGS: FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING, THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS, THE LORD OF THE RINGS: RETURN OF THE KING and the names of the characters, items, events and places therein are TM of Middle-earth Enterprises, LLC under license to New Line Productions, Inc. (s23)