Geordie Wardman had a sprained ankle, his feet were covered in blisters and ahead of him stretched 30 miles of desert that he had to cross. Although exhausted by the 70 miles behind him, he pushed on in April 2024, finishing the Zion Ultras and Trail Half-Marathon Race in 31hr 32min 44sec.

The 100-mile trek through the Utah desert was a challenge he took on to raise funds for an endowment in memory of his son, Finn.

The 20-year-old, who died in a tragic accident in Switzerland in 2023, was “passionate about travel and adventure” and The Finn Wardman World Explorer Fund gives young adults the chance to pursue journeys they might never have imagined possible.

Mr Wardman established an endowment fund at the Bermuda Foundation to support the bursary programme. Added to that, friends, family and acquaintances pledged nearly $180,000 in support.

In exchange, Mr Wardman promised he would run 100 miles — as he tackled the desert run alongside his friend Chase Toogood, he knew failure was not an option.

“The race was really challenging. I ended up spraining my ankle about 70 miles in ― it was all blown up ― and we both had blisters,” said Mr Wardman.

“But it was really rewarding. My brother met us around mile 65 and stayed with us through the last third of the race, which was really helpful. He set the pace and would keep us going.”

The effort paved the way for the first four recipients of The Finn Wardman World Explorer Fund: Bermudian Jediah Cumbermack is to advance his dream of becoming a professional motorcycle racer; Mexicans Yasmin Lorenzo and Brenda Gomez will head to Australia for marine biology internships and Leo Peredia is off to Germany for language classes.

Leo had never been on an airplane before and, despite living on the coast of Mexico, hadn’t learnt how to swim. Finn’s bursary opened her mind to life’s possibilities.

“She started taking swimming lessons at the age of 22 and now she's swimming in the ocean,” Mr Wardman said. “She had to go to the German embassy in Guadalajara, which is maybe six hours away from her and we got her a flight there. That was her first time on a plane, and she filmed it. She was so excited to be on a plane. That was really neat to see.”

Brenda was working in Whistler, Canada, sending funds back home to help her mother and her sister.

Her visa was about to expire when a contact the Wardmans made through a community programme they had been involved with while living in Mexico, told Mr Wardman and his wife Kirsten about her.

“She has a dream of following her passion, which is marine biology, in particular educating people about the marine environment.

“My wife and I looked around for internships for her and through a contact with my sister Tiffany, who works at BIOS, we found a good internship in Little Cayman and she’s been there now for about two months,” he said.

From there she will head to Australia, hopefully for a yearlong internship — although the details are still being worked out.

Meanwhile, Yasmin needed funds to extend an internship programme she was already working on in Costa Rica. Once that’s done, she too will head to Australia.

“Going to Australia is a dream, a once-in-a-lifetime for most people. It's a long trip, literally, the opposite side of the world. So they're really excited,” Mr Wardman said.

He and his wife were similarly excited to hear from Jediah — the first Bermudian recipient and the first athletic grant.

The 19-year-old had been racing motorcycles in the United States but was recently invited to compete in Europe with ROKiT Rookies Kawasaki team, owned by British Superbike champion Leon Haslam.

“He found us through Google and applied. I called his references and they all spoke very highly of him. He needs something like $65,000 to compete. We can only give him so much as we are a small charity, but it's a start,” Mr Wardman said.

“I'm going to come down to Bermuda to run the [Bermuda Half-Marathon Derby]. We're going to do some fundraising and try and raise awareness [of our fund] and some money for him as well.”

He hopes it raises the fund’s profile, especially among young Bermudians. His son Somers, Mr Toogood and Jediah will run with him.

It helps that the fundraising goal is more modest than last year’s. Mr Wardman has set his sights on $50,000.

In 2026, the hope is to partner with a centre in South Africa that gives art education to orphans.

“They take them up to about 18 years old, and then we're going to run scholarships for them when they graduate, to go to the UK and perform at festivals or go to the US ― to LA or somewhere ― and get them in internships there. And of course, we want to find more Bermudians as well.”

His dream would be to join forces with an organisation here that could funnel “four or five” children into the fund each year.

“If we could get 15 or 20 steady sources that bring vetted candidates, then what I would do is try to raise $2 million or $3 million, something to get it really well established and hire someone to run it,” said Mr Wardman, a software developer and entrepreneur.

“The response has been really rewarding for both of us. After our son died, we worried that in ten years or so, we’d be the only ones who really remembered him. But now we feel like he’s had an impact on the world ― because he did.

“He affected us deeply, and now we’re spreading that joy of living and sense of adventure he had. That’s been incredibly rewarding.”

• Donate or apply to The Finn Wardman World Explorer Fund here: www.finnwardman.com/

UPDATE: this article has been amended to make clear that Geordie Wardman is not operating under the charitable status of the Bermuda Foundation (registered charity No 948), but has instead established an endowment fund. We apologise for any confusion