STEPtember

1 in 125 babies are born with heart disease. Join us for STEPtember, a month-long challenge to walk 125km and raise £125 or more.

Whether you’re pacing the pavements, hitting the hills, or simply walking to work – every step you take enables local children, adults and families affected by congenital heart disease to live empowered lives.

Will you #StepUpForCHSF this September?

You will need…

• A way to measure the distance you travel on each walk. (This could be through a Smartphone app, pedometer or use old-school map approach). Keep a running total on your STEPtember step tracker!
• Family, friends and colleagues to get behind your fundraiser, and to help you reach the £125 target
• An email address so we can keep you energised with a series of simple in-event challenges and motivational messages
• Social media (optional) which will help you to promote your fundraiser using the hashtag #StepUpForCHSF – if you have Facebook, be sure to join our STEPtember group!

Raise £10 and get your STEPtember t-shirt!

Kickstart your STEPtember fundraiser – raise just £10 and earn your exclusive challenge t-shirt to wear with pride every step of the way during the month.

Simply sign up for STEPtember, open a fundraising page and we’ll pop a t-shirt in the post once you raise your first tenner!

We’re still putting finishing touches on 2027’s events – check back here soon!

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FAQs

How much should I fundraise?

We would love it if you could raise at least £125, which ties in with the 1 in 125 babies born with CHD in the UK.

I can’t visualise 125km as a distance – how far is it in steps/miles?

You can convert 125km to steps using our step calculator. 125km is around 78 miles. As September has 30 days, you can achieve the target by walking just over 4km or 2.5miles per day. For an average person, that’s about 5,500 steps per day.

Can I take part in STEPtember as a team?

No problem! Just make it clear on your fundraising page that this is a group activity and you are adding your distances together.

I’ve signed up but don’t seem to be receiving any STEPtember emails!

It’s probably best to check your spam or junk folders just in case. If you still aren’t receiving updates, contact us at events@chsf.org.uk

I’m not good with technology, and not sure how to record my steps – can you help?

Of course! Many smartphones have pedometers built in, but they are not always intuitive. We can help! Drop us an email at events@chsf.org.uk and we can arrange a time for a phone or online chat to discuss ways we can help to get you going. Alternatively – you can take part by planning set walks of varying distances throughout the month to make up the 125km distance.

I don’t want to walk 125km, it’s too short/long, can I adapt the challenge?

Whilst we set this up as a 125km challenge, you can do anything which challenges your personal goals and symbolises the 1 in 125 babies born with CHD (e.g. walk 125 miles, do 125 laps of the running circuit, 125 widths of the pool). Just make sure to let friends, family and colleagues know how you’ll be taking part and remember to keep track of your progress

STEPtember T&Cs

• By taking part in the ‘STEPtember’ challenge, you may join the Facebook group ‘STEPtember 2027: Walk 125km in September‘
• By posting any content (e.g. photos and videos) in the Facebook group or tagging us on social media:
  • You confirm that you own the copyright in the content and, if applicable, have all necessary rights and consents to include the person(s) featured in the content;
  • You give Children’s Heart Surgery Fund (CHSF) royalty-free permission to reproduce and share that content as we see fit to promote fundraising or other activities for the charity; CHSF may remove any content posted by you if you do not comply with these rules.
• You enter the challenge entirely at your own risk. CHSF shall not be liable for any injury, damage or loss to you or your property that might occur as a result of your participation in the challenge.
• Challenge t-shirts will be sent out to participants living in mainland UK who have raised a minimum of £10 on their fundraising page, have completed the form to request one, and provided the relevant details needed to fulfil their order.
• T-shirts are subject to availability and CHSF reserves the right to withdraw them at any time.
• T-shirts are limited to one per person completing the challenge.
• By providing your information when you sign up for a challenge, we will use this information for the purposes of administering the challenge, and may also contact you to discuss your fundraising activity and follow up on your progress.
• If you provide personal information on behalf of additional challenge participants, please only provide this if they have confirmed that they are happy for you to do so as we will use this information for the same purposes.
• Where you have consented to receiving further information from CHSF, we will use your personal information to send you these communications. All personal data held by us will be handled in accordance with applicable privacy laws and CHSF privacy policy which can be found here.