Swim a Swimathon distance
A friend has invited you to do this with them.
Swimathon is a fundraising swim held in local pools across the UK, where you choose a distance to suit your ability and swim it alone or as part of a team. The money raised goes to Cancer Research UK, Marie Curie and the Swimathon Foundation.
ModerateUnder £100 / $130MonthsIndoorsAlone or with othersUK
How to start
- Read the challenges on the Swimathon site and choose a distance that will stretch you.
- Enter as an individual or form a team, and pick a participating pool near you.
- Count the lengths you can swim now and add a few each week until you reach your distance.
Where to go
We opened this link on 7 October 2026 and found it to be what we say. Dates, places and prices are on the official page, where they stay up to date.
Plan this
Pick a day, or a month, and we will set out how to get ready, step by step, with a date and a reason for each. Events have fixed dates and entry or ticket deadlines. Physical events add a training plan from our guidance engine, and its length is set by the engine, not by the date you would like.
Read next
No one left behind on the Expresso trail: fifteen years of Tuesday rides with Girls Outside
How a group of women in Colorado's Roaring Fork Valley turned a Tuesday mountain bike ride into a 15-year habit: the motto, the tailgate and why the group keeps them riding. How to start mountain biking on easy graded trails, or ride harder terrain with a group if you already ride.
Watching a swimmer from an exercise bike led Sola Alegbe from a lifelong fear of water to teaching it
How a Londoner who nearly drowned as a child learned to swim at 48, left her job at Transport for London and qualified as a swimming teacher. What the first lesson is really like, and how to start if water frightens you, or go further if you already swim.
More like this
Moderate
Do a parkrun
Moderate
Complete an orienteering course
Moderate
Compete at a state Senior Games
Moderate
Take part in Race for Life