Resources
Download any resources you may need to spread the word about your challenge and why you're fundraising for vital dementia research.
How it all works
Got a question about Running Down Dementia?
We’ve got answers for you below. And if you still can’t find what you’re looking for, you can get in touch here.
The Challenge
We must all take precautions to help reduce the transmission of COVID-19, and we encourage you to keep up-to-date with the latest government guidance. Current government advice is that you can go for a walk or exercise outdoors if you stay more than two metres apart from others. As Running Down Dementia is a virtual event, you do your activities on your own. Thousands across the UK will also be taking part in their own way, so although you’ll be doing it on your own, you won’t be alone. While gyms and swimming pools are closed, we encourage you to focus on running and cycling for now – you can get back in the pool when the facilities re-open. You can view the latest government advice on social distancing here or if you have any questions email us at sportingevents@alzheimersresearchuk.org.
At the moment, the fulfilment organisation that we work with, Partridges, are remote working, like most of the UK. Therefore, all fulfilment activity is reduced during this period. This is in line with government guidelines, to ease pressure on the postal and delivery networks during this period, and to keep their staff safe. This means that any items that you order, or that you’re due, will be delayed. Don’t worry though, you’ll still get your item once the service resumes again and we’ll keep you updated. Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Running Down Dementia is an award-winning virtual running challenge from Alzheimer's Research UK and parkrun, supported by Garmin. We're challenging you to run 100km (Pioneer), 300km (Epic) or a distance of your choice (Maverick) and raise £100 for cutting-edge dementia research.
Running Down Dementia runs from 1 April to 31 August and you can complete your challenge in any way throughout this time.
If you raise £200 you’ll receive a free Alzheimer’s Research UK neckwarmer and if you raise £400 you’ll receive a free Running Down Dementia running top - or if you can’t wait, you can buy one here.
By taking on this challenge for the UK’s leading dementia research charity, you’ll be helping to make breakthroughs possible in dementia research for the 850,000 people living with dementia in the UK and their families.
Go on, take on the challenge today! 😊
- Register to take part in Running Down Dementia.
- Follow the steps to create a Running Down Dementia supporter page, where people can view your progress and sponsor you.
- Connect your supporter page to either Strava, Fitbit or MapMyFitness to make sure your activity is tracked (Watch our videos about connecting your tracking app) or you can manually add your runs on your supporter page.
- Make sure you track every activity you do, otherwise it won't be counted towards your total.
- Get running! If you're looking for inspiration and motivation during your challenge, check out our #TeamARUK updates from our RDD Heroes, or get in touch to tell us your own story!
- Check your progress on the leaderboards and see how you, your local parkrun or your corporate team compare!
There are three Running Down Dementia Challenges: the 100km Pioneer Challenge, the 300km Epic Challenge and the Maverick Challenge where you can pick a distance that suits you! Whether you want to do more than 300km, less than 100km or somewhere in between - it's up to you!
Simply select your challenge when you sign up. All challenges have a fundraising target of £100 (but you can fundraise more if you want!).
Yes – we'd love for you to be involved again this year! Use your login details from the previous year when you sign up this year and you can set up your Running Down Dementia 2020 page. We'd advise doing a short test run to make sure your accounts are set up correctly and that your tracker is still connected before you start your run!
If you completed 100km last year, why not challenge yourself to our Epic 300km challenge or set your own challenge as a Maverick?
Yes! You can still set up your supporter page and add runs manually within everydayhero.
Check out these videos on how to connect your tracking device.
- Strava: https://vimeo.com/195477098
- Mapmyfitness: https://vimeo.com/195456147
Yes you can, but you will need to get in touch with the everydayhero support team to help you with this on https://www.everydayhero.com/uk/contact/
During this time, you cannot physically participate as a team, however, you can be part of a team virtually to compete against each other and to encourage each other through this challenge. A team can be anyone you like: friends, family, work colleagues or your running club. When you register, you can create a team or join one if it’s already been set up. If you’re in charge of setting up the team, follow these simple steps:
1. Create a name for your team while you’re registering.
2. Once you’ve finished your registration and have set up your own team page, use the “Invite Members” button on your team page to send email invitations.
3. If someone else has set up the team, just search for the team name when you’re registering and you’ll be automatically connected once you complete your registration.
Company: If the organisation you work for has chosen Alzheimer’s Research UK as your charity of the year, select your organisation name from the drop-down at signup so your challenge will count towards your company total.
Teams are a great way to measure your kms and encourage a little friendly fundraising competition with people you know. Once you’ve signed up, visit your everydayhero page and click "Create a new team" or "Join an existing team" on the right.
Join our Running Down Dementia Facebook group to meet other people who are passionate about dementia research
Absolutely not! You can do it your own way – whether that's across the full five months or in a time that suits you. As long as you track all your activity with your tracking app you can complete the challenge however you choose.
When you raise £400 one of our team will call you to say thank you and ask for your t-shirt size and delivery address. Once you’ve hit your £200 please allow 10 days for us to get in touch with you.
You can also buy a Running Down Dementia running top here.
Of course! You can run, jog or walk your 100km and complete Running Down Dementia however you like. Or you can choose a distance that is less than 100km by choosing Maverick and entering the distance of your choice. Just make sure you track all your activity with your tracking app, or add it manually.
No, unfortunately not as they are two separate challenges. But drop us an email at sportingevents@alzheimersresearchuk.org and we can talk you through your options.
parkrun
parkrun organise weekly, free, timed 5km events at more than 500 parkland locations across the UK. The events are open to everyone and all you need to do is register on their site, print your unique barcode and head along to your next local event. You can register for free at: www.parkrun.org.uk/register. During this time, parkrun has suspended all of their events due to the public health recommendations - please do not run in groups at this time.
No, you can still sign up even if you're not registered with parkrun. Just sign up to Running Down Dementia, create a supporter page, connect a tracking device and off you go.
Alzheimer's Research UK is proud to be the official charity partner of parkrun UK.
parkrunners have so far helped raise more than £890,000 for world-class research, which will help us in our mission to bring about the first life-changing treatment for dementia by 2025.
If you can't spot your local parkrun on the list, email sportingevents@alzheimersresearchuk.org and we'll add it on!
Fundraising
Money raised from Running Down Dementia will support Alzheimer's Research UK's world class research, including treatments, preventions and ultimately a cure for the diseases that cause dementia.
Your donations will help pay for state-of-the-art equipment and will fund research at every level, from PhD Studentships to Major Projects. The money raised during Running Down Dementia 2019 may also contribute towards one of our big research initiatives or awareness campaigns.
Sharing your story is a great way to raise awareness of your challenge, Running Down Dementia and Alzheimer’s Research UK more widely!
If you have been affected by dementia or are taking on your challenge in an interesting or different way, the press may be interested!
We have an easy to use press release and guide, available here. Simply follow the instructions to contact your local paper with your story. If you need support with this then please get in touch with us at fundraising@alzheimersresearchuk.org
When you sign up to Running Down Dementia an online fundraising page will be automatically created for you with a target of £100 (but you can increase this if you like!).
To make the most of your page, we recommend you:
- Add a photo – so everyone can see your face!
- Set a target – we know that pages with targets raise more.
- Complete the ‘About me’ section – tell people why you’re challenging yourself for Alzheimer’s Research UK.
- Share your page – as far and as wide as you can using email and social media.
- Update – keep updating your page and sharing it throughout your challenge.
During Running Down Dementia we’ll be in touch regularly to help you make the most of your page and share extra fundraising ideas with you!
Money raised from Running Down Dementia will support Alzheimer's Research UK's world class research, including treatments, preventions and ultimately a cure for the diseases that cause dementia.
Your donations will help pay for state-of-the-art equipment and will fund research at every level, from PhD Studentships to Major Projects. The money raised during Running Down Dementia 2020 may also contribute towards one of our big research initiatives or awareness campaigns.
Organisations
everydayhero is the platform that's the home of our Cycling Down Dementia website and fundraising pages. We've been working with everydayhero for a number of years on our virtual events. JustGiving is a sister platform to everydayhero and they are both products of Blackbaud.
We're pleased to announce that Garmin has become the official sponsor of our sporting events for the next three years, which also includes the Treble Challenge. We will work together to help reduce people’s risk of developing dementia by encouraging them to make positive lifestyle changes.