We don't recommend completing the Swim 10k challenge in open water during November because of the potential risks associated with cold water temperatures and changing weather conditions in the UK.
If you do decide to take part in the sea, a lake, a loch or any other open body of water please read the below safety advice in full so you understand how to stay safe while fundraising for Cancer Research UK and be aware that participation is at your own risk. You can also learn more about how to stay safe when open water swimming by reading the RNLI's open water swimming safety guidelines.
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 November.
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 bobble hat, 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 in November 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.
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 Swim 10k in November 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 across the group or each complete 10k across the month.
Unfortunately, medals come at a large cost to the charity so we will not be sending these out. However, we will send all participants a certificate at the end of the challenge in their completion email. You can also access downloadable digital badges to shout about your achievement on social media.
The challenge is to swim 10k in the month of November. 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
While we encourage everyone to complete this challenge in November, this is a personal challenge and you can start and finish at a time that’s convenient for you. If you have difficulty completing your kilometres, then you can make up for it at a later date and continue the challenge into December.
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 November or not, the money you raise will help us to keep funding world-class research 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 November – the more updates the better. Supporters who regularly post about their progress raise 40% more on average.
There are free apps that will allow you track your distance such as Strava. If you’re using a tracking device, do make sure it’s waterproof! 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. Kickstart your training with Strava
It’s important you’re well prepared for your swim, especially if you haven't been swimming for a while.
Here’s some equipment you might want to consider:
Swimsuit/swim shorts
Goggles
Ear plugs
Nose clip
If you do attempt to complete the challenge outdoors, please wear a t-shirt while swimming to help retain body heat. You might 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 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.
Complete this form to receive your free bobble hat 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 a Cancer Research UK bobble hat. You’ll still receive an online Giving Page, be able to join the challenge group and take part. Sign up to the challenge 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 Cancer Research UK bobble hat comes at a cost to us, so please only order one bobble hat per fundraiser to ensure as much money as possible goes towards our world-class research. We ask for everyone requesting a Cancer Research UK bobble hat that they donate something to their fundraising page.
You will receive an online Giving Page once you've registered here.
It's then easy to share the page with your friends and family to 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.
This challenge is a fundraising initiative specifically developed by Cancer Research UK, and therefore all fundraising must go solely to the charity.
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. Don't forget to also share the link to your online Giving Page in the post.
Remember, any donation can make a difference. As little as £4 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 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 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?
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. If the donation is eligible for Gift Aid, sponsors need to fill out the sponsor form, following the guidelines at the top of the page.
We have plenty of fundraising materials and ideas to help you raise 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 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.
Everything you need to hit your goals, including a fundraising pack, challenge calendar and shareable social badges.
