Event Information & FAQS

Swim22 is Diabetes UK’s 12‑week virtual swimming challenge. You can pick one of three distances — 11, 22 or 44 miles — and swim at your own pace in a pool or in open water. In 2026 the challenge enters its seventeenth year, and to date Swim22 has raised over £6.3 million to support diabetes research, care and services.

Throughout the challenge you'll receive training resources and support, and have the opportunity to earn rewards such as a medal, tote bag, and water bottle. By taking part, you are helping fund Diabetes UK’s vital work for people living with diabetes.

Will you join us?

Dates: Swim22 runs over three months, from 22 March to 22 June 2026.

Challenges: There are three distances to choose from;

• 11 miles: ‘The Half’ – Half the distance to France, still an impressive feat.
• 22 miles: ‘The Full’ – The distance of the English Channel, our most popular choice.
• 44 miles: ‘The Double’ – To France and back, for the more adventurous.

Signing Up: Registration for 2026 will go live in December 2025.

Cost: The event is free to enter, but we encourage you to raise as much sponsorship as possible, which will help us to save and change the lives of people living with diabetes in the UK.

Location: You can complete your miles wherever you like, from your local pool to the open water.

Fundraising target: There's no minimum sponsorship but we suggest a target of £220. The more you raise, the more lives you’ll be changing.

Tracking your lengths: You can do this right here on the Swim22 platform along with accessing all of the information and tools needed to make your Swim22 a success.

Under 18s: If you're under 18, please ask a parent or guardian to register on your behalf, they will need to create a new JustGiving account using a unique email address.

Please find our event terms and conditions here.

This is where you can keep a track of your swims and fundraising, all in one place. After registering, find your profile by clicking on "My Page" in the top right corner.

While you're logged in, you can also get back to your profile by clicking on your profile photo in the bottom right corner.

You can personalise your profile by adding your photo, your story and adding journal updates. And it's where you'll start earning virtual badges for both your swimming and your fundraising. It’s easy to share your profile page with friends and family, so you can show off how you're getting on and they can support you by making a donation. Simply by using the sharing buttons or copying the page link in the browser bar.

To save you reaching for the calculator, here’s a handy guide to how many lengths you need to swim depending on the size of your local pool: Swimming Pool Guide

• 11 miles = 704 lengths of 25m pool
• 22 miles = 1,408 lengths of 25m pool
• 44 miles = 2,816 lengths of 25m pool

Diabetes UK is the leading UK charity dedicated to supporting people affected by diabetes, funding research, campaigning for better care, and providing information and services to improve lives.

We fund research into causes, treatments and prevention, run nationwide support and education programmes, and campaign with health services and government to improve diabetes care.

You can support the charity by taking part in events like Swim22, fundraising, volunteering, or using its helplines and online resources.

Every penny you raise goes towards our care and support services, advice and guidance, and pioneering research. Together, we're changing the world for people with diabetes.

• £30 could help more people receive crucial information and advice on their diabetes.
• £60 could train new professional helpline advisors to help answer every call.
• £100 could kick start investment into high-quality research projects which could shape the future of diabetes care.

Find out more about how your fundraising can support the vital work we do by visiting our website: Where you money goes

If you’re having problems with your page, like you can't log in, a badge is not showing or there is an error message, don’t worry, just get in touch with the JustGiving support team by emailing help@justgiving.com for technical support.

If you need help with the challenge itself, for example with your fundraising or you're worried about not reaching your step target, please get in touch with the events team on: swim22@diabetes.org.uk

Yes, there is a Facebook group dedicated to the Swim22 challenge. This group is a supportive community for participants of the Swim22 event, where members can share their experiences, ask questions, and encourage each other throughout their swimming journey.

To find the group, search for "Swim22 Challenge" on Facebook, or follow this link https://www.facebook.com/groups/223838901491169/

Joining the group can provide motivation, tips, and a sense of camaraderie as you work towards your swimming goals.

If a change isn't showing on your page, please refresh the page and see if it appears. Changes can take up to 10 minutes to appear.

If it still doesn't appear, please try clearing your cache and history on your page and seeing if that helps. If you still need help with your page, please contact help@justgiving.com for technical support.

You can also email the Events Team on: swim22@diabetes.org.uk for any challenge related queries.

You certainly can! When you’ve logged into your page click ‘Edit Page’, then click ‘Account.’ This is where you will find your current email address. Once you’ve updated it remember to click ‘Update’. This will update your log in details, so please remember before you log out.

You certainly can! When you’ve logged into your page click ‘Edit Page’, then click ‘Account.’ This is where you will find your current email address. Once you’ve updated it remember to click ‘Update’. This will update your log in details, so please remember before you log out.

Your profile page is a quick and easy way to collect donations from friends without any money changing hands, but you don’t need to fundraise this way. You can fundraising offline by using our Swim22 sponsorship form, that’s absolutely fine. The 2026 sponsorship form will be available on the resources page in early Spring 2026. They will appear as download links when you are logged in and hidden to the public.

You certainly can! When you’ve logged into your page click ‘Edit page’. You will be able to see ‘Total Offline Amount’. This is where you can add your offline donations.

Please be aware that this will appear in your main fundraising tally but not in your donation history.

Offline funds are not counted towards your fundraising total until these funds have been received by Diabetes UK so please only add offline donations that the charity can expect to receive. See below for how to send in any money raised offline.

The easiest way is to pay the money into your bank account and donate it to your Swim22 profile page as these funds are sent directly to us and linked to your fundraising.

You can also pay in by cheque; you can make it payable to "Diabetes UK" and send to:

Swim22 2026
Diabetes UK 
Wells Lawrence House, 
126 Back Church Lane, 
London 
E1 1FH

Include your sponsorship form or a note with your name and the event you have taken part in.

Or over the phone by credit/debit card to the number on the form. Just give us a call on 0345 123 2399, Monday to Friday 9am to 6pm.

The deadline to send donations and qualify for rewards in is 22 July 2026.

You don't need to do anything - the money donated onto your profile page comes directly to us.

We do indeed, please have a look on our rewards page by clicking here.

At registration you can opt out of receiving rewards. If you change your mind that's no problem at all. All you need to do is opt in on your Swim22 page. To do this click ‘edit page’ and select 'Preferences' on the side bar. This is where you can amend your preferences and opt to receive fundraising rewards.

Rewards are sent out in batches every 2 weeks so if you haven't received yours after 3 weeks, and you have checked your not opted out of rewards, then please get in touch on: Swim22@diabetes.org.uk.

Rewards will be sent out until the end of August, if you haven't received your reward before the end of July, please let us know so we can get this sent out to you before the deadline.

No problem at all. If you log in to your page, go to ‘edit page’ then ‘settings’ you can cancel your page there. If you click ‘cancel fundraising page’ you will be withdrawn from Swim22.

Log in to your page and scroll down to the ‘Share your page’ section. Click on the icon of the platform you would like to share your page on and then log in once the log in window appears. Once you have logged in, your page URL should appear. Add anything you would like to share along with the link to you page and click ‘Post’/’Send’.

Alternatively, you can copy the URL of your page from the top search bar and paste it into a platform/messaging service of your choice.

While logged in, go to 'My page' and scroll to 'Latest Updates'. there is a box at the bottom titled 'Post an update'. By typing into this box, adding an image or video and then clicking on 'Post update', that will then add your journey entry to the feed on your page.

To delete a journal entry just log in to your page, scroll down to the journal section and click the bin icon next to the entry you want to delete.

These will be unlocked once you reach certain fundraising and swimming milestones.

Once you have unlocked a badge you can share these with friends and family by clicking on the badge and clicking on the platform icon.

Log into your page and scroll to "Latest Updates" and click on "Add your Swims". A floating box should appear where you can enter your swim details. If it doesn't, please check that it hasn't been blocked by an online security pop-up blocker.

Once you have entered the details, your page will refresh and show your new total. It may take a few minutes to refresh but if it hasn't appeared after 10 minutes, please let us know as it might be a wider problem: Swim22@diabetes.org.uk

Set yourself a target that suits you. If you don’t think you can swim 22 miles, you can do 11 instead. Or, if you want to challenge yourself to double the distance then you can with 44 miles. The fundraising platform stays open for an extra month at the end of the challenge so if you need longer to add your lengths you can. We ask if everyone could try and start together on 22 March.

If you have added too many lengths to your page, you'll be able to edit this to the correct amount. If you log into your page and scroll down, there is a swim history section, which is under Activity. There, you’ll be able to delete unwanted swims.

You sure can! If you go to 'edit page' you can change your distance.

No, you cannot edit a swim activity you’ve logged. However, it’s super simple to delete your incorrect activity and log a new one with the correct details on your page.

Of course - check out this video which shows you how to log a swim. Happy swimming!

You can create or join a team either during registration or via your profile page (after you’ve registered).

• During registration - there is an option to create a team, find a team to join using the search box or skip (and create an individual page).
• After registration - while logged in scroll down and click on 'Edit your page' and then 'Teams'. You can then search for an existing team or create your own team, which you can invite others too.

Your team members will have to register individually and then connect to your team, you just need to share your team name with them so they can search for it.

Every team member has to register individually. If you make them aware of your team name they can join when they register. You can also share your team page using the buttons in the grey box on the left side of the Team page. If they’ve already registered, they can log into their page, click 'Edit page' and then 'Team' and search for your team there.

Here are a couple of things to try if your page isn't showing you're connected to a team:

• Give it a few minutes & then refresh your profile page - it can take up to five minutes for your team name to load to your page.
• Clear your cache on your internet browser - you can usually find your cache in the ‘history’ section of your browser’s settings menu. You only need to clear the last hour or so of your cache history.

If your team is still not showing, try logging into JustGiving.com, selecting 'Fundraising' from the menu and you will see if your team was created. From there you can invite team members, delete your team or remove team members.

If your team is not showing on JustGiving.com then you will need to create the team again as it did not save. If you are having problems creating a team, please contact: help@justgiving.com

Team Members – you can leave your teams via the ‘Edit page’ menu found on your profile page. Click on 'Teams' and then 'Leave Team'. If you wish, you can then join another team or create your own.

Team Captains – as you set up your team, you cannot leave your team but you can delete it. Please follow instructions on the question "How can I delete a team?" below.  
If you would like to make another team member Team Captain, please email: help@justgiving.com with your team page URL, your request to leave your team and details of who the new captain should be (from the existing team members).

You are unable to split your swimming distance target with your team. The Swim22 platform is only designed for you to swim these distances as an individual.

You can of course unofficially split the distance as a team, but you will only receive badges for the distance that you swim and log on your individual page. We would recommend just making it clear in your story section that you are taking on the distance together as a team.

Only the Team Captain can delete a team. You will need to do this on JustGiving, the platform that powers your Swim22 fundraising page.

Visit JustGiving and log in to your account. Your login details, will be the same email address and password you use to log into your Swim22 steps page.

In the top right hand corner of your JustGiving account, click on the top right hand corner menu and select "Fundraising".

Scroll down and find your team, and click on the "edit" option underneath your team description.

Across the top, you can see options to 'View', 'Edit', 'Settings' and 'Members'

Go to 'Settings' tab to delete team page

Please wait at least 24 hours for your team to be disconnected from your page. If the team is still appearing after that time, please contact: help@justgiving.com with the link to your team page that you want deleted.

Removing a team member can only be done by the Team Captain on JustGiving.com and the process is very similar to how to delete a team answer above. For the final step, instead of going to 'Settings', click on 'Members', scroll to the individual that you want to remove from your team and select 'Unlink'.

If you are having issues with removing a team member, please email: help@justgiving.com

Donations made on individuals pages will count towards their personal fundraising reward milestones and their rewards will be sent out automatically. For those also in a team, individual donations will appear on a team page but not count towards Rewards.

However if donations are made on a team page, then the total amount raised will be divided by the number of team members to work out how many rewards the team have earned.

For example:

In a team of 10, for each person to receive a medal, then the total amount raised would be £500 e.g. £50 each for the medal fundraising milestone.

More information on the fundraising milestone rewards can be found on this page Rewards