26 Miles in 10 Days Challenge

The challenge is to run 26 miles over 10 days. That’s the distance of a marathon. To break it down in to bitesize chunks we suggest running and average of roughly 2.6 miles (4.2km) a day.

Yes of course. The challenge is to complete 26 miles by the end of the 10 days but how much you do each day is up to you.

We will be encouraging everyone to start their challenge on Friday 14 April and continue for 10 days – finishing on the same day as the London Marathon. However, if you are joining the challenge later, need more time or need to get started early then that’s fine. Some of the email timings will be a bit off so just bear that in mind.

Once you register for the challenge you will have a fundraising page created for you. You can add your distance to your page manually (by typing in how much you’ve completed) or by connecting your fitness apps such as Strava or Runkeeper to automatically add your distances.

No, we trust you.

A reasonable level of fitness is required to complete this challenge but it should be accessible to most. That said, each participant should go at their own pace and so choose a pace that’s comfortable for you. If you would like to walk the challenge, that’s absolutely fine, please do.

To take part in the challenge, register for free on our 26 in 10 website. Fill in the registration form to set up your fundraising page. Then you will be set to go on 14 April.

We have a Facebook group for participants who have registered for the challenge so they can meet their fellow participants: 

Yes, absolutely! Just send them a link to the website to join.

Fundraising will be completed on your 26 in 10 fundraising page that is automatically created for you on completion of registration. There is no minimum fundraising amount. If you would like a suggested amount to aim for then we suggest starting with a target of £100. As that can work out to a £10 donation for each day of your challenge. You can always increase this once you reach it.

If you would like to withdraw from the challenge and close your fundraising page, simply: Log onto your dashboard (your fundraising page) | Click on the challenge you want to close | Click 'Edit page' under the welcome back banner | Scroll to the bottom and click on 'Page Controls' and 'End Challenge'. If you want to archive your challenge too (it will be done after 6 months regardless) you just need to do that process again but this time it will say 'Archive Challenge' rather than 'End Challenge'

95% of the donations from your page will come directly to Macmillan. Macmillan pays 5% fee to the GivePenny website to host the challenge.

Before you can invite team members to your page, you’ll need to set up your fundraising page as an individual. You can do this by signing up on the 26 in 10 event page. Once your page is set up, click on your challenge (either through your dashboard or via your page URL). At the top of your page you’ll see a box saying ‘Update Progress’, click here and then click the ‘Update Team members’. Pop in the name and email address of those you want to invite to your team and hit ‘Invite’. You will then see a screen saying 'Team member added', click done and you will now see the invite status. You can add further names by changing the information in the boxes and clicking 'Invite' – Make sure the email address is correct!

Once you have registered you will automatically be created a fundraising page for the challenge. Make sure to share your page on your social media channels with your friends, family, and colleagues. Let them know how important this challenge is to you and how vital the money raised is to Macmillan Cancer Support. 

If you’re not quite sure what to say, here is a suggestion to get you started. The most important thing is to tell people what you’re up to, why the challenge is important to you and what you’re raising money for: From the 14 – 23 April, I’m going to be committing to completing a marathon over 10 days for Macmillan Cancer Support. This challenge is really important to me. Everyone who gets cancer deserves life-transforming support and so I’m doing whatever it takes to help Macmillan to be there for everyone with cancer. Any donation amount will be greatly appreciated. And I’ll share updates as complete the challenge. Thank you!

Your friends and family will love to see your progress throughout the challenge and will look forward to seeing how well you’re doing. Keep them updated with updates on Facebook, WhatsApp or however you communicate with them, with pictures showing how far you have come. 

Please get in touch with fundraising@macmillan.org.uk and your request will be actioned. 

If one of your donors needs a refund, you can guide them to the following link: https://knowledgebase.givepenny.com/home/can-i-get-a-refund-on-my-donation

You can fundraise offline using a sponsorship form, or you can set up a JustGiving page.

You could ask them to give you the donation and then to add this to your fundraising page yourself.