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 The Treble Challenge?
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
The Treble Challenge is a virtual triathlon from Alzheimer’s Research UK, supported by Garmin. It runs from 1 April to 31 December 2021 and you can choose from our Pioneer distance, an Epic distance or go Maverick and choose your own to suit you.
You do the challenge your way, in your own time – we just ask that you choose distances that will challenge you (because the harder people see you working, the more they’ll want to sponsor you – and every pound raised helps make breakthroughs possible in dementia research).
Plus, when you raise £400 you’ll get a Treble Challenge tri kit for free, which contains a Treble running top, cycling jersey, Alzheimer’s Research UK swimming cap and a neckwarmer. Or you can buy the tri kit for a discounted price of £50- all you have to do is put all four items in your basket and the discount will automatically apply. Nice, eh?
Go on, take on the Treble Challenge today! 😊
a. It’s easy! You run, cycle, swim anywhere, at any time (within reason, of course!) between April and December 2021. You can mix things up or have dedicated months for each discipline, whatever works for you! You just need to log all your activities on your Treble Challenge account. So, first thing’s first: register here
b. Choose your distances. Make sure it’s a challenge and go Pioneer (perfect for beginners looking for a challenge), Epic (for those wanting a big challenge for the year), or Maverick (choose your own distances). Then set your fundraising target to reward your brilliant efforts and raise money for dementia research. You can change both later if you hit your goals.
c. Follow the steps to create your Treble Challenge page, where friends and family can view your progress and sponsor you. If you have a tracking device, then make sure you connect your supporter page to Strava - videos of how are linked here:
- Connecting your FitBit to Strava: https://support.strava.com/hc/en-us/articles/216918087-Fitbit-and-Strava
- Connecting your Apple Watch to Strava: https://support.strava.com/hc/en-us/articles/115000161184-Strava-Apple-Watch-App-iOS
- Cnnecting your Samsung device to Strava: https://support.strava.com/hc/en-us/articles/360018601971-Samsung-Gear-and-Strava
- Other workout data import to Strava: https://www.strava.com/apps/data-importer
If you don’t have a tracking device then you can add your activity manually on your supporter page, just login to your fundraising page and add your activity on your activity feed.
d. Be sure to track or log every activity you do. It all counts!
e. Get going! Activities logged after 1 April will count towards your total. If you’re looking for inspiration and motivation during your challenge, join our dedicated Treble challenge Facebook group: Treble challenge - TeamARUK
f. Check your progress on the leaderboards and see how you compare!
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. This guidance is changing regularly and will do over the coming months. As the Treble Challenge 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. You can view the latest government advice here or if you have any questions email us at sportingevents@alzheimersresearchuk.org.
To take part in the Treble Challenge, all you need to do is sign up here. You can choose how and when you run, cycle, swim - just make sure you complete your fundraising and distance between 1 April and 31 December 2021.
You can log your activities any way you like, whether that’s with a fitness watch through Strava - videos of how are linked here:
- Connecting your FitBit to Strava: https://support.strava.com/hc/en-us/articles/216918087-Fitbit-and-Strava
- Connecting your Apple Watch to Strava: https://support.strava.com/hc/en-us/articles/115000161184-Strava-Apple-Watch-App-iOS
- Cnnecting your Samsung device to Strava: https://support.strava.com/hc/en-us/articles/360018601971-Samsung-Gear-and-Strava
- Other workout data import to Strava: https://www.strava.com/apps/data-importer
Or you can manually add your activity on your fundraising page.
At the moment, due to most of the team being on part-time furlough leave, the processing of orders is slightly slower than usual. Therefore, we'd ask for you patience and understanding during this time whilst we work hard to make sure everyone receives their kit in a timely fashion. You will definitely receive your well earnt kit though - you can be sure of that!
It doesn’t matter if you’re a fitness fanatic or complete beginner, the Treble is all about setting and smashing your own targets.
Pioneer: Swim 10km, cycle 500km, run 100km
Epic: Swim 30km, cycle 1,500km, run 300km
Maverick: Go Maverick and choose your own distance for each event!
Yes, but an adult will need to register them and take full responsibility for them throughout their challenge. Also, please make sure their distance targets are suitable for their ability.
Yes you can, you just need to go to the fitness tracking area of your profile in order to update your challenge distance.
Yes you can, you just need to go to the fitness tracking area of your profile in order to update your challenge distance.
a. You’ll receive an exclusive Treble challenge 2021 medal at the end of the challenge when you have logged your distances and been sponsored to do your challenge. See the medal that could be yours below!
b. This medal has been created by A touch of Ginger who are passionate about good design, sustainability and supporting dementia research. It was exclusively created for the Treble Challenge.
Yes! The Treble Challenge is a combination of all three of these virtual events. Our fantastic supporters have raised £2.3 million from our virtual events over the last six years, so a virtual triathlon seemed a fitting celebration!
Unfortunately not – your existing challenge pages can’t be transferred to the Treble challenge. But any relevant activity you’ve recorded since 1 April will automatically apply to your Treble challenge too, so you can set up a new challenge within the Treble, however any fundraising you’ve done won’t carry over.
Of course you can! You will just need to sign up to these events separately and create separate fundraising pages. Unfortunately you won't be able to receive a Treble Challenge medal unless you complete the full Treble Challenge.
Yes, you certainly can! Browse our online shop and buy the Treble Challenge kit for a discounted price of £50 (plus you'll qualify for free postage - bonus!).
Remember, if you raise £400 you'll get the Treble merch bundle for free!
a. We recommend starting small and building up – don’t go too big too soon.
b. Figure out what works best for you and plan out your weeks.
c. You can either do all the sports alongside each other or do one at a time if that is more manageble for you. Remember you have between 1 April and the 31 December to complete this challenge.
We have a lovely online community of other people taking part in the Treble Challenge on Facebook.
Yes you can! Either physically or virtually, but just make sure are following government guidelines if you're meeting up in person. If you want to take part virtually as a team you can create a team when you register. You can either create a new team or join one if it’s already been set up (just search for it in the search bar).
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.
Team: 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 fundraising page and click "Create a new team" or "Join an existing team" on the right.
Unfortunately not! We've changed platforms this year from Everydayhero to JustGiving (their sister organisation), so you'll need to set up a new fundraising page on JustGiving, but it will look very similar to your page from last year. We'd advise doing a short test run to make sure your account is set up correctly and that your tracker is connected before you start your activity!
Nope, all our virtual events are completely free! We just ask you to set yourself a challenge that will push you, and ask your friends, family and colleagues to sponsor you so we can continue funding life-changing dementia research.
a. If you have a tracking device, then you can connect your device through Strava, just click here. If you need support, then please read the following instructions to see how to link your fitness app to your JustGiving page:
- Connecting your FitBit to Strava: https://support.strava.com/hc/en-us/articles/216918087-Fitbit-and-Strava
- Connecting your Apple Watch to Strava: https://support.strava.com/hc/en-us/articles/115000161184-Strava-Apple-Watch-App-iOS
- Cnnecting your Samsung device to Strava: https://support.strava.com/hc/en-us/articles/360018601971-Samsung-Gear-and-Strava
- Other workout data import to Strava: https://www.strava.com/apps/data-importer
b. If you don’t have a tracking device then you can add your activity manually on your supporter page, just login to your fundraising page and add your activity on your activity feed.
Yes! If you don’t have a tracking device then you can add your activity manually on your supporter page, just login to your fundraising page and add your activity on your activity feed.
Absolutely not (although we’d be very, very impressed if you did!). You can do it your own way. You can do your runs, rides and swims in your own time, however you choose. Whatever you choose to do, it’s your challenge, your distance, and your fundraising goal.
Fundraising
Sharing your story is a great way to raise awareness of your challenge, the Treble Challenge 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 at the top of this page, under resources. 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 on fundraising@alzheimersresearchuk.org
a. There are loads of ways you can smash your fundraising target. Have a look at our fundraising page for some ideas to get you started. One great way to ensure donations flow in is by sharing your page with your friends, family and work colleagues.
b. You can also join the Treble challenge Facebook group to meet and share your story with others.
c. We have loads of tools to help you with your fundraising – from images to post on social media to sponsorship forms- also available at the top of this page under resources.
a. To make the most of your fundraising, 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.
b. During the Treble challenge we’ll be in touch regularly to help you make the most of your page and share extra fundraising ideas with you!
a. Dementia is one of our greatest medical challenges but at Alzheimer's Research UK, taking on a challenge is what we do best.
b. The money you raise will help fund our pioneering research programmes to make breakthroughs possible for people with dementia and their families. From people to pipettes and from Aberdeen to Exeter, every £20 you raise will power another hour of life-changing research.
c. You can find out more about what we do here.
Donating through Gift Aid means we can claim an extra 25p for every £1 you donate to our life-changing research. It won’t cost you any extra but will make a big difference to what we can achieve with your support. Please note, you must be a UK taxpayer to enable us to claim Gift Aid.
Organisations
We're pleased that Garmin are the official sponsors of our sporting events for the next two 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.
JustGiving is the platform that's the home of our Treble Challenge website and fundraising pages. We've been working with JustGiving (everydayhero before) for a number of years with fundraising pages across our sporting events.
Alzheimer's Research UK is proud to be the official charity partner of parkrun UK.
parkrunners have so far helped raise more than £1.6 million for world-class dementia research, which will help us in our mission to bring about life-changing breakthroughs in dementia research.
UK Cycling Events (UKCE) is a dedicated cycling events organisation passionate about encouraging all abilities of rider to experience the best cycling the UK has to offer. It runs well-organised, friendly events including road sportives and mountain bike events, which are suitable for riders of all ages and abilities.
Cycling Weekly is a dedicated hub for all things bike-related, including cycling news, a shop, deals, and much more!
Alzheimer's Research UK is lucky enough to be the charity partner with both of these for Cycling Down Dementia and The Treble Challenge.