We are delighted to annouce that Swim for Tom is back on Sunday 29th June 2025 at the Monmouth School Sports Centre. We are looking for 480 swimmers to help us achieve our target distance of 587km (23,480 lenghts of a 25m swimming pool) which is the distance from Monmouth to Edinburgh whilst raising money for Tom's Fund at Cancer Research Wales.
We are using TicketSource to handle our registration this year. This allows a maximum of 8 swimmers per lane per hour. We also need a lane counter for each lane. The two outer lanes are designated as slow and fast lanes respectively, the other four are for any other swimmers. Please chose the best lane for you. Once selected, each swimmer and lane counter will be asked to pay £10. This will go to Tom's fund supporting cancer research in Tom's memory.
To register as a swimmer or lane counter, please go to:
Tom Walker Fund at Cancer Research Wales event tickets from TicketSource
Thank you....we look forward to seeing you there!
Tom Walker was a pupil at Monmouth School for Boys. He was a quiet, considerate and caring boy. In June 2018 he was taken ill and died the day after being diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia. Tom was just 13 years old. Tom was a keen swimmer representing both his school and Monnow Swimming Club. He was also learning to row on the river Wye. Less than three months before he died, before he knew he had leukaemia, Tom raised £600 for Cancer Research Wales by taking part in a night hike up Pen y Fan. He was the youngest of the 91 participants who took part.
You can find our more about Tom's story here #BloodCancerAwarenessMonth: Tom Walker's Story - Cancer Research Wales
In order to remember Tom, his sister Holly and then deputy head girl Katie Cameron from Monmouth School for Girls and Monnow Swimming Club organised a swimathon (known as “Swim for Tom”) on Sunday 6 January 2019. It was supported by the Haberdashers’ Monmouth Schools and Cancer Research Wales. Swim for Tom aimed to cover a total distance of 430km - the equivalent of swimming the length of the river Wye and back again. The event surpassed all expectations, with 988km being swum by over 600 swimmers. It raised over £25,000 for Tom’s Fund.
The following year, Swim for Tom was held on Sunday 12th January 2020 and saw over 500 swimmers raise over £15,000.
The first £100,000 raised by Swim for Tom 2019 and other events were used to fund a PhD research post. This was taken up by Theo Morin. Theo complerted his thesis "Engineering Optimal T-Cells for the Treatment of Acute Myeloid Leukaemia" in 2024 at Cardiff University. In 2023, Tom's Fund hit £200,000. The second £100,000 is curently being used to assist with the funding of two glioblastoma brain tumour projects. More information on what we are funding can be found here Two new studies into Brain Tumour treatment funded by one community’s efforts to continue legacy of Tom Walker - Cancer Research Wales