10 October 2023 to 5 July 2026. One rule: get in the sea, every single day, no matter what.
Not because of work. Not when it was freezing. Not on the hardest days. The challenge was deliberately simple, because simple is what makes it unbreakable: get in the sea, every day, for Dave, for 1,000 days in a row.
It isn't just a start date and an end date. It's every ordinary day in between, the good ones and the very hard ones, repeated until it became unremarkable, which was rather the point.
The first swim. No plan beyond doing it again tomorrow.
The first Christmas of the challenge. Still no exceptions.
365 days after the first swim.
Carrying on to 1,000 days is announced. £30,000 raised so far.
Biopsy results confirm Dave also has prostate cancer.
The second Christmas of the challenge.
Dave collapses. Emergency admission to hospital.
The Champion programme launches.
The prostate cancer is growing. Surgery is needed.
Radical prostatectomy surgery, London.
The second National Daily Dip 4 Dave Day.
The third Christmas of the challenge.
Inverness, 1.4°C. The coldest swim of them all.
The first illness caused by the swimming itself.
The promise, kept in full. Over £70,000 raised.
Interviewed on Red Settee, Spotlight TV.
Show up. Again. Again. Again. That's the whole thing.Ruth Hitchcock, Founder
Rain or shine, warm or freezing, every single day.
As the days added up, other people started joining in: not swimming every day, but showing up for their own dip, in solidarity. What began as one person's private commitment to Dave became something other people wanted to be part of.
People across the country get into cold water on the same day (rivers, seas, lidos, garden paddling pools) to mark the anniversary of Day One and raise awareness and funds together.
The first was held on 12 October 2024, the second on 11 October 2025, and it's continued every year since.
Full details →The community, showing up together.
1,000 consecutive days is done. The promise was kept in full, from the first dip to the last.
National Daily Dip 4 Dave Day carries the challenge forward every year, open to anyone who wants to take part.
Awareness, earlier diagnosis, and research into Neuroendocrine Cancer remain the charity's focus, challenge or no challenge.
Sign up for updates on this year's date, or support the mission directly.