Supporters raise money by challenging themselves to run 5k across 12 days over the month of December.
You can sign up using our challenge form dedicated to this challenge and create your Cancer Research UK online Giving Page to receive your free Santa hat, and start fundraising. Once you have signed up and set up your page you can join our Facebook group to get tips for completing your challenge, be inspired by other fundraisers and find out anything you want to know about the challenge.
Yes! If you don’t have Facebook, you can set up a Cancer Research UK online Giving Page and collect sponsorship for your 12 Days of 5ks.
There is no entry fee for this challenge, but we do ask that you fundraise for Cancer Research UK through your online Giving Page. All donations to the page will automatically be sent to us.
There are people of all levels of fitness doing this challenge. The important thing is that you're doing something that challenges you. This will vary from person to person, so tailor the challenge however you like. It should be tough, but doable. However you choose to break down the 5k you’ll be helping beat cancer.
While we encourage everyone to complete this challenge in December, this is a personal challenge and you can start and finish at a time that’s convenient for you. You can make up your 5k at any point of the December and continue the challenge into January.
Don’t worry! You can complete your 5k on any day you like or extend your challenge into the following month if needed. Complete the challenge in a way that suits you.
The only thing that matters is that you try your best to complete as much of the challenge as you can. Whether that’s completing the whole 5k in December or not, the money you raise will help us to keep funding life-saving research. Whatever you manage to achieve, we can’t thank you enough.
We trust you! You don’t need to provide evidence that you’ve completed the challenge to us, but your friends and family will want some updates. Make sure you keep them posted on your progress and share videos, photos and your online Giving Page throughout December – the more updates the better. Supporters who regularly post about their progress raise 40% more on average.
We recommend you connect your Giving Page to Strava so you can track your 5ks automatically.
Please note: With Strava there’s sometimes a 48-hour lag in the data being updated. If your miles still aren't showing after this time, disconnect and reconnect to do a hard reset and this will add any miles already on the Strava account.
There are free apps that will allow you track your miles such as Strava.
We recommend using Strava so you can link your account to your online Giving Page. Posting your progress on your page will help encourage donations!
Learn about tracking your runs with Strava.
Of course! You can complete your 5ks whatever way works best for you.
There are plenty of ways you can hit your target – you can complete all 12 of your 5ks in a row at any point or split them to give yourself rests in between.
Warming up properly before running will help prevent injury and should only take five minutes.
Start off marching on the spot and then march forwards and backwards. Pump your arms up and down in rhythm with your steps, keeping the elbows bent and the fists soft.
To do heel digs, place alternate heels to the front, keeping the front foot pointing up, and punch out with each heel dig. Keep a slight bend in the supporting leg.
To do knee lifts, stand tall and bring up alternate knees to touch the opposite hand. Keep your abs tight and back straight. Keep a slight bend in the supporting leg.
For shoulder rolls, keep marching on the spot. Roll your shoulders forward 5 times and backwards 5 times. Let your arms hang loose by your sides.
To do knee bends, stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and your hands stretched out. Lower yourself no more than 10cm by bending your knees. Come up and repeat.
Read more NHS information and guidance on these warm-ups.
Remember to listen to your body and don’t push yourself If you’re feeling fatigued or dizzy. Stop for rests and if urgent, seek medical attention.
For more information on running in different types of weather, see the guides below:
Tips on technique, stretching, resting, cross-training, nutrition and recovery. (Make sure you click the ‘Tips and advice’ tab)
Maximise reflective gear: wear bright, neon or white clothing to help drivers spot you from afar.
Think low: car’s headlights are angled down slightly, so try to wear reflective socks or shoelaces.
Accentuate your moving parts: try to wear reflective gear on your feet, ankles and wrists.
Be bright and flashy: flashlights and headlamps both light your way and alert people of your presence.
Find out more information on runnersworld.
It’s not unusual to encounter bad weather when you’re out running in the UK! It’s important you have the right equipment and approach if you’re running in adverse weather. Alternatively, it’s more than ok for you to complete the kms on a treadmill at home or the gym. When running in adverse weather, remember to check your route and know your trail – understanding your surroundings will help you avoid difficult terrain and stick to safer, flat surfaces. Here’s some useful equipment to take with you in bad weather:
Waterproof clothing
Neck warmer/buff
Water and food
Mobile phone
It’s important to prepare for your run - especially if you’re going to be running a long distance.
Here’s a list of equipment you might want to consider:
Running shorts or tights
Sunscreen
Running top or light t-shirt
Sun hat or cap if it's warm
Sunglasses if it's warm
Water, along with rehydration and glucose supplements
Running trainers
Running socks
A sports bra
A snack to help maintain energy levels
Winter-weight running tights or thermal tights if it's cold
Long-sleeved jacket if it's cold
Waterproof jacket and shoes if it's raining outside
Complete this form to receive your free Santa hat in the post. Once completed, please allow 15 working days for it to arrive.
If you haven’t received your Santa hat Hat within this time, please contact supporter.services@cancer.org.uk.
When filling out your sign-up form, select ‘no’ where it asks if you’d like to receive an item. You’ll still receive an online Giving Page, be able to join the challenge group and take part!
If you have any further questions, email supporter.services@cancer.org.uk or call 0300 1231022 (lines open 8am–8pm, Monday to Friday and 9am – 5pm at weekends)
Unfortunately, returning Cancer Research UK Santa hat comes at a cost to us, therefore, we ask that you keep hold of it for personal use (for example give to a friend or family member).
Sending out your Cancer Research UK Santa hat comes at a cost so please only order one Sant hat per fundraiser to ensure as much money goes towards our life-saving research as possible. We ask everyone requesting a Cancer Research UK Santa hat to donate something to their fundraising page.
Yes, under-18s can take part in this challenge, but we do not market to them and any third-party platform forum (such as Facebook forums) are only available to people over 18. If under 18s are taking part, their parent or guardian must consent to the child’s participation, supervise the challenge and accept responsibility for complying with the challenge rules. The child’s parent or guardian must register on the child’s behalf and if a child wants to raise money online and/or join a forum, the child’s parent or guardian must register for an online fundraising page and/or join the forum on the child’s behalf.
Participants must register as individuals, but you can then set up a team Giving Page to take on the challenge and raise money together.
Here’s how:
All your team will need to sign up to the 12 5ks of Christmas Challenge so you each have your own online Giving Page.
Once everyone has signed up, log into your account
Hit the 'Create new team' button and follow the instructions
Once you've created your team, you can send the team page URL to friends and family so they can join too!
Find more information about setting up a team. Once you’ve created your team, you can either split up your miles across the group or each complete the 12 5k across the month.
For this challenge, if you have raised at least £150 you will be sent a medal. Everyone will also be sent a certificate in your completion email at the end of your challenge. You can also access downloadable digital badges to shout about your achievement on social media.
Setting up an online Giving Page is the easiest way to raise money.
It's then easy to share the page with your friends and gather sponsorship for your challenge.
There is no minimum target for this challenge, but we recommend you set a reasonable target of raising around £150.
The first tip is to log in to your page and take a few minutes to personalise it. You can add a photo, update the 'My Story' section to share why raising funds for this cause is important to you.
The second tip is, if you're able to, kickstart the fundraising by adding your own donation to your online Giving Page. It can often help to get things going - it's a bit like making sure your friends aren't the first guests at a party.
And the third and final tip is to share a post on your social media channels (Facebook, Instagram, anything you use) to tell people about your challenge - and make sure to share the link to your online Giving Page in the post.
Remember, any donation can make a difference. As little as £3 could buy a box of 100 gloves, which keep our scientist’s hands safe while they get hands-on with their experiments.
Let us know how you get on by posting in the Facebook group, and we can offer further help if you want it. You've got this!
£5 could buy 100 plastic test tubes, which are the understated tools of any experiment.
£12 could buy a microscope bulb, which allow our scientists to see cells in detail, watching cancer’s every move so we can beat it sooner.
£15 could buy a lab coat to protect our scientists from potentially dangerous chemical spillages.
£20 could buy antibiotics to keep the cells studied by our scientists free from infections.
Yes absolutely. You can raise your fundraising target on your online Giving Page at any time. Supporters who increase their fundraising target raise an average of 51% more than those who don’t, so why not head over to your page and raise yours.
Gift Aid is a tax relief allowing UK charities to reclaim an extra 25% on every eligible donation made by a UK taxpayer. This means Cancer Research UK can claim an extra 25p for every £1 donated, without it costing you or your sponsors an extra penny. For a donation to be eligible for Gift Aid, sponsors need to fill out the sponsorship form following the instructions at the top of the paper sponsorship form.
We have plenty of fundraising materials and ideas to help you raise life-saving donations. Visit our fundraising hub for everything you need for your challenge.
If you're happy to keep the page online, but want to stop taking donations, you can change the closing date of your page.
Here’s how:
You'll need to go to your Giving Page (make sure you're logged in) and scroll down and select ‘Page settings’.
Then select ‘Page closure date’ – you can choose to close the page now or set a future date to close your page.
Tap ‘Save’ for the changes to come into effect – people can still view a closed page but can’t donate to it.
You can reopen a closed page by selecting ‘Keep your page open indefinitely’.
Please note, you don't need to close your page for the money you have raised to transfer to Cancer Research UK. This happens automatically when each donation is made.
If you'd like to take the page off the site completely, you can email us at OnlineFundraisingQueries@cancer.org.uk and we'll get that sorted for you.
By default, Giving Pages stay open indefinitely unless you set a date to close your page.
If you selected a date for your fundraising page to close and would like to extend this closure date follow these instructions.
Find the online Giving Page you're looking for by searching the:
full name of the fundraiser
email of the fundraiser
Find your own or your friend’s online Giving Page.
If you need any further support on questions related to online Giving Pages, please contact OnlineFundraisingQueries@cancer.org.uk
For all other questions, please contact our Supporter Services team, who'd be happy to help.
Grab your fundraising pack, challenge calendar, shareable social media badges and more to help you reach your fundraising goals.
