Jove Club group hiking in the Lake District

Our mission

To help people make the most of their free time through real adventure.

We do this by building real-world fitness, developing new skills, and sharing the journey with others who want the same.

Who we are

Founded in December 2024. Built on real skills and real adventure.

Our coaches and leaders have decades of combined experience running trips, guiding climbs, and helping people prepare for challenges they never thought possible.

Founded

December 2024

Est. in the cold

Trips run

10+

And counting

Funded by

Jove Club is funded wholly by Freddie and the savings he worked hard for. No investors. No parental safety net. All in.

Freddie Sankey, founder of Jove Club

The founder

Freddie Sankey

Freddie spent six years as a Royal Marines officer, leading marines in some of the world's most demanding environments. He left to pursue a career in finance — first at Barclays, then Goldman Sachs — and spent six years watching his sense of purpose quietly disappear.

The antidote was always the same: get outside, move hard, do something that matters. Trail running, mountaineering, rock climbing, hiking. Training with people who actually showed up.

In November 2024, he left financial services for good and put every penny of savings into building Jove Club — the thing he'd wished existed when he moved to London.

Qualifications

  • Mountain Leader AwardQualified
  • Outdoor First AidQualified
  • Running Fitness CoachQualified
  • Winter Mountain LeaderAssessment pending

All Jove Club trips are led by vetted, qualified instructors — the right person for each type of trip. Freddie's qualifications inform how trips are designed and run.

Why we're different

What makes Jove Club work.

01

We make you a more capable adventurer

Not a random group leading nature trails. We teach skills you can actually use — to achieve bigger goals, plan your own routes, and lead your own adventures with confidence. Every trip sets you on a path with purpose.

02

No fads. No shortcuts.

Fitness should never be a limiting factor in your fulfilment. It takes a long time to build the kind of fitness that lets you do whatever you want, whenever you want. There are no shortcuts. But when you get there, everything becomes possible.

03

You'll see these people again

With other adventure companies, you go away with strangers you'll never see again. At Jove Club, there's a good chance you'll have met people before the trip — at a session, on a previous adventure. The bonds are real because the experiences are real.

What you're actually joining

When you book a trip, you're joining Jove Club.

Not a mailing list. Not a hashtag. A group of people who show up, push themselves, and come back changed. The bonds that form on a mountain — or at 2am on a bunkhouse floor — are not something you can manufacture. They happen because the experience is real.

The story

As told by Freddie.

2012–2013

Royal Marines officer training

Completed training to become a Royal Marines officer — a childhood dream. Learned how to build elite groups and develop fitness for the hardest environments.

2013–2018

An adventurous life with purpose

Six years living with purpose, variety and travel. Surrounded by close friends doing things that mattered. The benchmark everything else would be measured against.

2018–2024

London. Barclays. Goldman Sachs.

Moved to London and spent six years in financial services. Purpose and motivation faded. The answer — rediscovered through meaningful training and frequent adventure — became the blueprint for Jove Club.

Nov 2024

Left financial services

Quit a lucrative career with the singular aim of changing people's lives.

Dec 2024

The club was born

Started the first training sessions in the dark cold of winter. Couldn't believe people actually turned up.

Mar 2025

First Jove adventure trip

Headed to the Brecon Beacons. One of the people who came had never run before. We got them through their first 10km — then up their first mountain. Watching someone discover something they didn't know they were capable of. That was the moment.

Sept 2025

Multiple trips. Real progress.

Climbs, hikes, scrambles, trail runs and a Welsh 3000s challenge completed. Some people on their fourth trip. Others trained for races they'd previously thought impossible. First week-long expedition to the Scottish Highlands.

2026 →

Taking things up a notch

Serious challenges in Scotland. Academy weekends. First international trips. The 2026 calendar is the most ambitious one yet.

Jove Club group hiking in the Scottish Highlands

You know what to do next

When you book a trip, you're joining Jove Club.

Everything starts with a trip. The rest follows.