Inspirational amputee army veteran takes on 10 ultramarathons in 10 days in her wheelchair raising money for incredible cause

Eilish McColgan reflects on setting the Scottish record for finishing the London Marathon in 2 hours and 24 seconds |

GB NEWS

Isabelle Parkin

By Isabelle Parkin


Published: 15/08/2025

- 12:52

Updated: 15/08/2025

- 13:10

Lexi Chambers is travelling more than 30 miles a day in her wheelchair

An inspirational army veteran is taking on 10 ultramarathons in 10 days in her wheelchair as she attempts to break her sixth world record and raise money for an incredible cause.

Lexi Chambers set off from Twickenham, London, on Sunday, August 10, marking the start of a more than 320 mile journey to Sunderland where she will deliver the official match whistle for the opening game of the Women's Rugby World Cup.


The Rugby fanatic will complete the challenge in her everyday wheelchair, which she began using after having her leg amputated in 2021.

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Mrs Chambers has Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) and had hoped the amputation would manage pain brought on by the condition, though it returned two weeks after the procedure.

She said she feels an "eight out of 10 pain all the time" which led to her having to leave her 17-year career as an NHS nurse around four years ago.

Determined to carry on helping others in any way she could, Mrs Chambers, from Exeter, decided to start completing challenges in her wheelchair.

She told GB News: "Unfortunately the amputation didn't work so two weeks later the condition came back and I'm wheelchair dependent.

"You do have some rubbish days where you realise you aren't going to particularly be able to walk again, but after I kind of lost my career and things like that I decided I needed to continue to do something and help people as much as I could so I started wheeling."

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Lexi Chambers

Lexi Chambers will complete the ultra-marathons in her everyday wheelchair

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JOEL LILJEGREN

Through her "Race to Women's World Cup" challenge she is hoping to raise as much as she can for ChildFund Rugby, a charity which helps give children and young people around the world access to the sport and help them to develop other life skills.

Mrs Chambers said when she has faced difficult moments in the challenge so far - including collapsing from heatstroke on day three - thinking of the charity helps to "spur her on".

She said: "I have been talking to a few of the girls that have trained as coaches and gone through the programmes of lifestyle skills and learning how to play rugby and they are incredible.

"Every time I am having a hard moment I think about chatting to these girls and how much they have gone through just to play the sport that they love.

Lexi's wife, Shannon (left), has been by her side throughout the challenge so far

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LEXI CHAMBERS

"I think about how tough these women are all over the world they are incredible human beings. To do what they have done, to overcome the adversities they have and to play rugby on top of that."

The wheelchair athlete began training for the string of ultramarathons just weeks after having a surgery on her leg which involved cutting her sciatic nerve.

Despite still being in recovery from the procedure, she has completed three ultramarathons a day for the past seven months.

As she passed the halfway point in her 10-day challenge, Mrs Chambers said thinking about the finish line was "emotional".

The wheelchair athlete with the Women's Rugby World Cup whistle

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JOEL LILJEGREN

"It's amazing. It is a strange thing for me because I can't really afford to look that far ahead but these thoughts do creep in occasionally, she told the People's Channel.

"You almost have a daydream in your head of what it is going to feel like when you reach the finish line and I try to tune that out because the minute it gets in I feel quite emotional.

"I think about each day as just another training session and that is how I get through it really."

Mrs Chambers is hoping to break a new Guinness World Record through her challenge which she said would be her sixth.

Most recently, she broke the record for being the fastest woman to cross John-O'-Groats/Land’s End in a wheelchair.

She explained: "I've done a challenge every year for the last four years, this will be my sixth world record which is quite nice.

"I always get a bit nervous but particularly with this one because it means so much to me and the charity means so much to me as well.

"I want to make sure I get to the end, I want to make sure I do a good job and I want to represent the charity the best I can."

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