Lexi Chambers – Smashing Records, Inspiring Others, and How Rugby Has Changed Her Life
rugbyasia247
Posted On September 2, 2025
It’s another world record, but it was a gruelling accomplishment that Lexi Chambers undertook and achieved when she concluded her 10 ultra-marathons in 10 days, in a wheeled journey across England to support ChildFund Rugby in the 2025 Race to Rugby World Cup.
We spoke with her on the opening day of the tournament to reflect on her journey, being inspired and why women’s rugby has such an affinity for her and its potential.
Feature Photo Credit – ChildFund Rugby
“The whole journey was absolutely incredible and exhausting all at the same time. It’s kind of a double-edged sword. It was super tough, and it actually got harder and harder as I went on, as naturally it would do. You do one ultra marathon, and it’s going to get harder when you do another, and another. And so on,” Lexi told us in Sunderland.
Hours later, she was at the Stadium of Light as part of the opening ceremony to kick off the biggest Women’s Rugby World Cup to date. It’s been an epic few weeks, but that has come off the back of several months of prep to pull off this accomplishment.
“The terrain got tougher and tougher as I went up the country. So it was a double whammy and incredibly tough, probably the toughest thing I’ve done so far,” she told us.
If Lexi Chambers says something is tough, you’d better believe it. It’s all been done for a good reason. Or multiple good reasons. She is a big rugby fan and was only introduced to the sport not too long ago.
Her feat helped to raise money and awareness for ChildFund Rugby, and she delivered the whistle to the opening game of this Rugby World Cup.
Photo Credit – ChildFund Rugby Whistle for the opening game of this Rugby World Cup 2025
“It was incredible because of all the support that we had. Support that we had all the way through. That was unexpected and amazing all the same time.”
At her finish line after traversing 322 miles, she had a strong crowd of local rugby Sunderland community members, representatives from World Rugby and ChildFund Rugby, and delegates from the G2G Connect 2025 summit. Never mind the smattering of Red Roses players, too.
“The online support was absolutely incredible. I didn’t expect it to be honest. I never do. I just kind of do my thing, and I will myself from one place to another, and that’s that. And then you sort of finish at the end of the day and have a quick look at your phone, and all of a sudden it’s going a bit ballistic.
People left so many nice comments. I’m hoping that they’ve looked at children’s well-being and and I’m hoping that they are engaging and donating to ChildFund Rugby, and that’s literally what my brain goes straight towards the finish line.
But the reception I had at the end – I had no idea that was coming. I thought I’d gone to the wrong place, and maybe some of the Red Roses were running in front of me or something. To be honest, it was amazing and overwhelming, and probably the biggest highlight of my life so far.”
Photo Credit – ChildFund Rugby – Lexi Chambers – Race To WRWC 2025
We asked her what motivates her. This is her 6th world record, and what was the origin story for this particular mission, and why was ChildFund Rugby chosen as the beneficiary?
“Last year, I was mid-event, and it was on the last sort of leg of what I was doing, which was about 35 marathons in 35 days.
Women’s rugby has always inspired me to start doing this from the very start. It was simultaneously having my leg amputated and finding women’s rugby at the same time. And that gave me the courage, I suppose, to keep going and to engage in sport, even when I thought that I couldn’t.
I was thinking a lot about that and about what the girls go through every time that I was suffering, every time it was difficult. I wanted to do something that can help, and I had a chat with a lovely lady, Sue Dorrington, who most of you know (she is a pioneer of the women’s game). She’s one of the founding four for the Women’s Rugby World Cup.
I said, I want to do something that actually helps women’s rugby. We had a few ideas. We decided on 10 ultramarathons in 10 days, which no one had ever done using a sports chair or a normal wheelchair.
When it comes to a charity? I said, ‘Look, I’m trying desperately to find a charity that actually affects women, you know, in rugby and that can actually help directly. And I didn’t know what existed,’ And she did. She told me about ChildFund Rugby, and I literally read the front page of their website, and I knew that’s the one. I was like, “Where have you been!”
ChildFund Rugby – Making a Lasting Impact
“Working with everybody in ChildFund Rugby has been absolutely incredible. I didn’t realise they were so far away at the start. We used the power of all the Zoom calls, and they were constantly in contact with me all the way through, making sure that everything was done.
We got to know each other really well, which is amazing. And finally meeting them in person was very surreal after all the conversations we had – it was quite a rush. It was like meeting friends that you’ve had for such a long time.”
ChildFund Rugby celebrates a decade in 2025, and they are World Rugby and RWC 2025’s Social Impact Partner.
Lexi explained, “In terms of the lasting impact, the number of people that they help is absolutely incredible. When I saw the number of delegates, 82,000, that have gone through and been trained in actually playing rugby, but also in life skills as well….. I mean, some of the girls have had to leave home just to play sports. It’s absolutely shocking. And you wouldn’t think those things exist in this day and age, but they really do, and they’re in so many countries as well.
I’m hoping that having them be a partner at the women’s Rugby World Cup and having this platform, and seeing the number of people that are coming to the games, that they’re going to be seeing these girls play rugby, and they’re also going to be seeing a lot about ChildFund Rugby as well.
Hopefully, everybody will have a look at them and realise what I saw, and that they are just an incredible charity, and they’re really worth everybody donating to and following.”
Being Involved in the Grassroots to Global Connect 2025 Forum – Lexi Chambers
We both attended the Global Grassroots to Global (G2G) forum leading up to the opening of the RWC in Sunderland, and got to hear from and meet some wonderful female coaches and leaders from around the globe
We asked Lexi what some of her key takeaways were from hearing delegates speak about the challenges and opportunities in the women’s game.
Photo Credit – ChildFund Rugby – Grassroots to Global Connect 2025 Forum
“It was absolutely amazing seeing so many women from all around the world. But seeing that, the fact that you see one person that has one problem, and it can be from from a Western country, and you think, well, that’s strange even to have that problem here, but seeing that then replicated through different countries and realising we all have the same problems with connecting with women’s rugby, with getting rugby out there, and getting people onto that pitch, and getting people to understand that it’s a great sport to play.
That, for me, was just very humbling. So it’s actually just one big team, and people combining in a room like that, realising that if they work together, then it’s easier to solve those problems as a group than it is separately.
It’d be easy to be overseas and think that nobody’s listening. Actually, those people were right there yesterday (the top brass from World Rugby’s women’s game), and they got to hear firsthand from all the delegates what they were facing, and hopefully they’ll make those changes.
Sally Horrox, Chief of Women’s Rugby at World Rugby, made commitments in front of everyone. But will they follow through?
“There are a lot of promises made, and I think a lot of promises are achievable. They are such a fantastic group. The leaders of women’s rugby at the moment are the best that I think we’ve ever had. And I think that if they make a promise, then they’ll do their best to put it in place and achieve it.
I think it might be a little bit more complicated than just saying we’re going to do this or that, because there are a lot of countries represented by the delegates, and they have some different issues. So how are you going to bridge that gap? How are they going to actually be able to do what they want to do, and be seen and be heard all the time, and be part of that global group?”
Photo Credit – Grassroots to Global Connect 2025 Forum
Women’s Rugby World Cup Team Engagement
Lexi had a number of women’s teams participating in the tournament engage with her during this journey. We assumed she was not the type to get starstruck, but she does.
“We got to meet some of the teams at the York opening ceremony as well; the Canadians, Fiji, the New Zealand team and the Spanish. It was all one big blur. It’s very difficult to put into words as it was very surreal, having people that I really look up to and I really respect asking me what my experience, physically, was like. I was thinking, ‘I wouldn’t want to do what they do and run into brick walls! I don’t know how they do that. It’s incredible.”
She said, laughing, that it was a strange back-and-forth conversation of, ‘you’re amazing. No, you’re amazing, backwards and forwards.”
Photo Credit – Women’s Rugby World Cup Team Engagement
“They’ve all been so supportive all the way through, messaging and sending lovely messages of encouragement, and to be honest, they’re getting ready for the World Cup. This is the last thing on their mind. They should be focusing on what they’re doing, yet they’re still giving their time to come down and say hello to me and be there and be supportive.”
She told us that, like everyone, she has her favourite players, and when meeting some of that England team whom she has met a couple of times before, she is always worried about saying something stupid – she is a real fan.
“I have such huge, huge respect for all of the players; from those I’ve met in the Premiership (PWR), in the World Cup, to the grassroots teams, to the delegates – every single girl that plays rugby, I just think you’re incredible and absolutely amazing. I just have nothing but admiration for every single person who plays rugby.”
Lexi Chambers Introduction to Rugby – ‘It was literally a moment that completely changed my life for the better.
Lexi is new-ish to the sport, something the most recent data from World Rugby tells us is the case for many who will be attending this Women’s Rugby World Cup.
“It was about four and a half years ago that I was introduced to rugby. It sounds really unthinkable now to say that I didn’t know rugby existed, and I genuinely didn’t, which just seems really strange.
It just popped up on Facebook one day, and I was a little bit low at that point. I’d had lamentation for a chronic pain condition. The condition came back. So that’s why I’m wheelchair dependent now, because I can’t wear a prosthetic leg.
My partner and I saw that this rugby game was coming up, and it was in our local stadium, and England were playing Italy at Sandy Park in Exeter. We saw how cheap the tickets were and thought it was a mistake. How can they be that cheap?
So we bought the tickets and went to see the game live. Within about two minutes, I was literally transferred. I was thinking, how can people be doing this? It’s absolutely phenomenal. And I watch a lot of sports. I mean, I’ve been doing sports for my whole life, and various sports, from climbing to tennis, to swimming, to triathlons.
But I’ve never seen anything like this before. I’ve never seen anybody that tough before that can run that fast and think that quickly whilst running that fast, and then hit something that hard and get back up again, and do it all again, and be part of a team like that as well!”
Photo Credit – ChildFund Rugby
That game had a massive impact on her. And Lexi explains why she likes being a fan.
“It was so special to see, and you can see the connection we all have. It was literally a moment that completely changed my life for the better. Straight away, we looked to see if there were any local teams. We found out that the Exeter Chiefs had a women’s team, and we have been going to support and haven’t really stopped since.
We’ll go to as many international games as we can. We travel around the country to make sure they’ve got a bit of support.
The more you get to know the players, the more you see that they’re incredible people. A lot of them are international players who don’t have their families here, and might not have a big support network, and the other girls are very supportive of each other, which is amazing.
I think it’s important for fans to say, “If I can be at that stadium and I can help them with what they’re doing, then that’s a good thing to do. So we try to do the best we can.”
The tournament in England is breaking barriers and aims to change perceptions of the women’s game. We asked her how we can ensure, collectively, that the game keeps growing and that we’re all doing our part in terms of visibility and accountability.
Photo Credit – JRFU – Japan Sakura 15 at Sandy Park – RWC 2025
“There are two things really that have come to my mind all the way through this. I remember back to the early games I was watching at Sandy Park – there’d be an average of about 300 people in the crowd. That gradually grew to an average of between 1500 and sometimes 2000 people in the crowd. And that was on the horrible, rainy, miserable days when no one wants to go out anywhere, but they love rugby, and they love watching the women so much that they still go.
That’s the one side that I’d like to see increase. And I think it will now that the sport is becoming more visible. They’re actually putting it on mainstream TV so people can watch it more easily.
Hopefully, they’ll see what I saw, and it’ll take about two seconds for you to realise how special it is and get completely hooked. And so I’d like to see a bigger number of people turning up on a weekly basis, but also at the sort of grassroots level.”
Supporting The Growth of the Women’s Rugby Game
The grassroots level of rugby is something Lexi Chambers talked to us about as she engaged with several clubs along her own journey.
“I’ve met an awful lot of people through the last year, where I went into 18 different clubs and tried to find out what the issues were with women’s rugby, because there is a big drop-off point, and so a lot of the youngsters, a lot of young girls, really want to play.
They see their heroes, like Marlie Packer, like Kate Zachary, like Ilona Mayer, and they want to play. So they start playing, and then they get to sort of secondary school, and then they stop, and they find there’s nowhere to go.
I’ve heard this on the route as well, and they said exactly the same thing. ‘Where does my daughter go to play in those gaps?’
Hopefully, by having rugby be more visible, and there being more attendance, more girls between the ages of 11 to 16 will want to play. The good thing about rugby is you don’t have to change yourself to play it. You don’t have to look a certain way. It’s there for absolutely everybody, and there’s a spot for everybody.
It is really cool to be strong, and it is really cool to be part of the team. You have friends for life – seeing that right there in front of their faces, they’ll realise that they can do it and more clubs will carry on for longer.”
Photo Credit – ChildFund Rugby
ChildFund Rugby News
- Lexi Chambers Sets Sixth World Record Using Non-Sport Wheelchair As She Completes 2025 Race to Rugby World Cup.
- World Rugby Joined UN Women and ChildFund Rugby to Highlight Rugby as a Catalyst for Gender Equity and Social Impact.
- ChildFund Celebrates a Decade of Impact Through ‘Pass It Back’ & Launches New Mascot Rally.
- World Rugby and ChildFund Rugby Set For Next Phase of the Grassroots to Global Forums.
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