Be sure to keep skipping rope away from young children, avoid letting very young children play with them.
When attempting the challenge, give yourself plenty of space and make sure that there are no small children or animals within distance of yourself and the rope.
Supporters raise money for Cancer Research UK by challenging themselves to skip for 15 minutes a day across the month of May.
Once you’ve signed up, join the Facebook Group dedicated to this challenge and click 'Join Group'. Once you're in, get tips for completing your skips, 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 15 Minutes of Skipping a Day in May Challenge.
There’s 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.
While we encourage everyone to complete this challenge in May, this is a personal challenge and you can start and finish at a time that’s convenient for you. If you can’t complete your skipping count on any given day, then you can make up for it at any point of the month and continue the challenge into June.
We encourage you to complete the challenge in a way that suits you. Some people prefer to build up their skips throughout the month. Others like completing their 15 minutes of skipping a day evenly across May. There are people of all levels of fitness doing this challenge, so everyone will complete it differently. The important thing is that you’re doing something that challenges you – it should be tough, but doable. However you choose to complete the challenge and raise money, you’ll be helping us beat cancer.
Don’t worry! You can make up the skips on another day 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 you complete the full 15 minutes of skipping a day for the whole of May 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 May – the more updates the better. Supporters who regularly post about their progress raise 40% more on average.
Participants track their skips in lots of different ways. You could open up a timer on your phone or wear a fitness tracker to track your minutes. Don’t forget to post about your progress regularly on your socials and online Giving Page to encourage donations!
When you sign up, you can order one of our free skipping ropes and complete the challenge with that alone. But here’s some further equipment you might want to consider to make you feel comfortable when completing your skips:
Suitable exercise trainers
Cordless skipping rope
Skipping rope mat
Speed rope (for advanced skippers!)
Warming up properly before your skips will help prevent injury and should only take 5 minutes.
March on the spot for up to 3 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.
Heel dig for 1 minute – for 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.
Knee lifts for 30 seconds – 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.
Shoulder rolls for 2 sets of 10 repetitions – for shoulder rolls, keep marching on the spot. Roll your shoulders forwards 5 times and backwards 5 times. Let your arms hang loose by your sides.
Knee bends for 10 repetitions – 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 guidance on these warm-ups.
Stretching after your skips will help relax your body, slow your heart rate, improve flexibility and minimise the chance of injury.
To do a buttock stretch:
Lie on your back and bring your knees up to your chest.
Cross your right leg over your left thigh.
Grasp the back of your left thigh with both hands.
Pull your left leg towards your chest.
Repeat with the opposite leg.
To do a hamstring stretch:
Lie on your back and raise your right leg.
Hold your right leg with both hands, below your knee.
Keeping your left leg bent with your foot on the floor, pull your right leg towards you keeping it straight.
Repeat with the opposite leg.
To do an inner thigh stretch:
Sit down with your back straight and your legs bent.
Put the soles of your feet together.
Holding on to your feet, try to lower your knees towards the floor.
To do a calf stretch:
Step your right leg forward, keeping it bent, and lean forwards slightly.
Keep your left leg straight and try to lower the left heel to the ground.
Repeat with the opposite leg.
To do a thigh stretch:
Lie on your right side.
Grab the top of your left foot and gently pull your heel towards your left buttock to stretch the front of the thigh.
Keep your knees touching.
Repeat on the other side.
Read more NHS guidance on these stretches.
For safety and optimum comfort, find a surface that’s level and firm but not too hard.
Be sure to check your surroundings before you skip, especially when attempting this challenge inside. You’ll want to make sure you have enough space around you to jump and swing your rope without knocking into anything.
Read more guidance on the best surface to skip on.
If you’ve never skipped before (or not skipped in a long time), then it may take some time to build up to a steady number. Always listen to your body and only push yourself as much as feels comfortable. You’ll be surprised how quickly you build up your skips!
Jump on the balls of your feet - when you skip, try to softly jump up and down on the balls on your feet. Your heels should never touch the ground, which is one reason skipping is a great calves workout!
Don’t jump too high - if you’re trying to get in a rhythm and skip for more than 30 seconds without burning yourself out, keep your jumps as small as possible without tying up the rope. Just relax and don’t worry if you trip on the rope.
Don’t swing your arms and shoulders too much - skipping is all in the wrists. If you’re using your arms and shoulders while jumping very high, skipping becomes a very difficult cardio activity. Just use your wrists in a circular motion.
Position your hands slightly above your waistline - hand position is important, and depends on the length of the rope you have. Your arms should be comfortably bent, hands placed about a foot from your sides and just above waist level.
Get in a rhythm - you can skip as fast as you want, but getting in a rhythm can make skipping easier and more fun. It’s a bit like hitting your stride as you jog – you can do the same thing skipping.
For more tips, tricks and variations on how to skip, visit Builtlean.
Complete this form to receive your free skipping rope in the post. Once completed, please allow 10-15 working days for your skipping rope to arrive.
If you haven’t received your skipping rope in this time, please contact: supporter.services@cancer.org.uk.
If you’d like to purchase a Cancer Research UK t-shirt to wear while you complete your skips, you can buy one from our online shop.
When filling out your sign-up form, simply select ‘no’ where it asks if you’d like to receive a skipping rope. You’ll still receive an online Giving Page, be able to join the challenge group and take part!
To sign up to the challenge, please follow the link to the challenge sign-up form.
If you have any further questions please email supporter.services@cancer.org.uk or call 0300 123 1022 (lines open 8am–8pm, Monday to Friday and 9am–5pm at weekends).
Sending out your skipping rope comes at a cost to us, so please only order one skipping rope to make sure as much money as possible goes towards our life-saving work. If you do request a skipping rope, we ask that you set up an online Giving Page and make a donation.
You can purchase additional skipping ropes via our online shop.
The skipping rope we provide is one standard length (2.4 metres). If you want to use your own longer or shorter rope that’s better suited to you, then please do.
For the ideal skipping rope length, you should be able to stand on the middle of the rope and pull either side up to your armpits (see table below).
If our Cancer Research UK skipping rope is too long, you can untie the knot in the handle and shorten it to the length you’d like. If you need a longer rope, we advise you purchase one that’s suitable for you.
If you’re still not sure whether your rope is the right length, see the below table for the recommended rope length for your height.
Unfortunately, medals come at a huge cost to the charity so we will not be sending these out for the 15 Minutes of Skipping a Day in May Challenge. However, we will send you a certificate in your completion email at the end of the challenge and you can access downloadable digital badges to shout about your achievement on social media.
Yes, under-18s can take part in this challenge, but we don’t market to them and any third-party platform forums (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 15 Minutes of Skipping a Day in May 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 the skips up between the group or each complete 15 minutes of skipping per day across the month.
Using our Online Fundraising Platform is the easiest way to raise money. You’ll receive an online Giving Page once you’ve registered using our registration link.
You can then share the page with your friends and family to gather sponsorship for your challenge.
We don’t set a fundraising target for participants, but we recommend that you set a reasonable target of raising £150 or more.
The first tip is to log in to your page and take a few minutes to personalise it. You can add a photo and 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, kick-start 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 pair of safety goggles to keep our scientists safe while they conduct their cutting-edge 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 can fund a lab technician for over 30 minutes, ensuring researchers are equipped with everything they need to beat cancer.
£10 can buy 250 plastic test tubes to help carry out cancer-fighting experiments.
£15 can buy agarose gel, which is a vital component for a technique that scientists use to measure the length of pieces of DNA.
£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!
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.
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 Gift Aid section on the online donation form or follow the instructions at the top of the paper sponsorship form.
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 Giving Page you're looking for by searching for 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.
