Important health and safety tips for swimming indoors or in open water so you can understand how to stay safe while fundraising for Cancer Research UK.
Supporters raise money by challenging themselves to swim 10k in whatever way they choose over 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, you can complete a form to get your free Cancer Research UK swimming cap, get tips for completing the distance, 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 Swim 10k Challenge.
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.
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. You can make up your kilometres at any point of the month and continue the challenge into June.
The challenge is to swim 10k in the month of May. You can choose to break this down into 2.5k a week, or smaller swims multiple times a week. To put this into perspective, 2.5k = 100 x 25m lengths, or 50 x 50m lengths.
There are lots of ways to complete the challenge and raise money for our life-saving work:
Visit your local swimming baths or leisure centre.
Check out a local lido.
Try your local lake or loch.
Take a dip in the sea.
Sunscreen safety advice:
If you're not sure if the weather will cause sunburn/skin damage, check the Met Office UV forecast.
If you're swimming outside, use plenty of sunscreen with SPF 15+ and a 4 or 5 star rating, which will sufficiently protect your skin.
Apply it everywhere, not just to exposed skin, and apply regularly during and after your swim.
For more information about staying safe in the sun, visit cruk.org/sun.
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 10k in 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.
If you're attempting the challenge outdoors, please wear a t-shirt while swimming to help retain body heat. You may also like to wear a wetsuit to aid buoyancy and make you more comfortable in the water. We also recommend neoprene gloves and booties. Ultimately, you should wear what you’re comfortable in and what keeps you warm. If you're planning to wear a tracking device, make sure it’s waterproof before entering the water.
It’s important you're well prepared for your swim, especially if you haven't swum for a while. Here's some equipment you might want to consider:
Swimsuit/swim shorts
Goggles
Sunscreen
Ear plugs
Nose clip
It isn't safe to swim in a reservoir due to the following hazards:
Reservoirs can be deceptively deep, with unexpected drops which aren't visible from outside the water.
Reservoirs are often in isolated places, making it difficult to receive immediate help.
Hidden pipes and machinery can be hazardous.
The sides can be steep and difficult to get out from.
There may be hidden obstacles, rubbish or broken glass that people have discarded which might cause injury.
The temperature tends to be very low.
The minimum age for participation is 18. Anyone under this age shouldn't take part in the Swim 10k Challenge.
Strava and Fitbit are free apps that will allow you to track your distance. If you're using a tracking device, do make sure it's waterproof! Find out how to connect your Giving Page to Strava. Find out how to connect your Giving Page to Fitbit. Please note: Sometimes there's a 48-hour lag in the Strava/Fitbit data being updated. If your kilometres still aren't showing, disconnect and reconnect to do a hard reset and this will add any kilometres already on the Strava account.
Complete this form to receive your free Cancer Research UK swimming cap in the post. Once completed, please allow 15 working days for it to arrive.
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)
Sending out your swimming cap comes at a cost to us, so please only order one swimming cap per fundraiser to make sure as much money as possible goes towards our life-saving work. We ask that everyone requesting a swimming cap donates something to their fundraising page.
The minimum age for participation is 18. Anyone under this age shouldn't take part in the Swim 10k Challenge.
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 Swim 10k 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 kilometres up between the group or you can each complete 10k 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 here: https://activities.cancerresearchuk.org/swim-10k-in-may-challenge 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 supporters set themselves 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, update the 'My Story' section to share why raising funds for this cause is important to you.
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 on the group, and we can offer further help if you want it. You've got this!
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.
£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!
For this challenge, if you have raised at least £150 you will be sent a medal. You'll 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.
This challenge is a fundraising initiative specifically developed by us, therefore all money raised must go solely to Cancer Research UK.
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 page.
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.
If you'd like to extend the closing date of your fundraising page, you can do this by editing your page: Help with my Cancer Research UK fundraising page If you need any further support with this please contact our Supporter Services team, who'd be happy to help!
Email: supporter.services@cancer.org.uk
Grab your fundraising pack, challenge calendar, shareable badges and more to help you reach your fundraising goals.
