Gurkha Training Company Catterick wins charity Doko Race at Pirbright

A team from the Gurkha Training Company at Catterick won both the team and individual titles at a charity Doko Race held at Army Training Centre Pirbright in Surrey on Wednesday 28 October, raising funds for the Gurkha Welfare Trust.

Around 90 competitors from the three services of the British Armed Forces took part in the five-kilometre tri-service event, in which runners carry a doko, the traditional Nepalese bamboo basket worn with a strap across the forehead. Corporal Ayush Rai of the Gurkha Training Company Catterick took the individual title.

The doko race is modelled on the carrying test used in Gurkha selection and has been used by Gurkha units in recent years to raise money for charity. The Gurkha Welfare Trust supports Gurkha veterans and their families, including in Nepal.

For Nepalese communities in the UK, the event shows a distinctly Nepalese tradition bringing serving personnel from all three services together behind a Nepal-focused cause. The amount raised has not been published in the material found, and no official statement from the trust or the Army has yet been located. This account rests on a single published photo feature, which credits images to BFBS Gurkha, so the result should be treated as reported rather than independently confirmed. Latest update: published 30 October 2026.