FAQS

THE CHALLENGE 

What is MyMarathon? 

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MyMarathon is your opportunity to help raise funds for lifesaving heart disease research, while challenging yourself to walk or run 42.2 km (or more) over hours, days or weeks during October. 

You can do it on your own, or as part of a team with friends or colleagues. 

Where is MyMarathon? 

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You can do MyMarathon anywhere, from your local park or walking track to your favourite stretch of coastline!

When is MyMarathon? 

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The challenge runs from 1 - 31 October. You can choose to run it in a day, pound it out in a week or walk it in a month-long commitment to better health. MyMarathon is the fundraising race where you set the pace.   

I’m in isolation, can I do a Marathon? 

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Absolutely. In fact, exercise can reduce your risk of heart disease, lower your stress levels and keep you physically and mentally well. We encourage you to get creative! Walk or run laps of your backyard, dust off the treadmill or jog on the spot. You only need to complete 1.4 km every day to reach that finish line. 

I’ve had a heart event, is MyMarathon safe?  

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If you have heart disease, or if you’ve suffered a heart attack, it’s normal to worry about how physical activity might impact your health. Chat to your GP about your goals and concerns and take a slow and steady approach based on their advice.    

YOUR ACCOUNT 

How do I reset my password? 

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If you can’t log in to your fundraising page, there may be an issue with your password. To reset your password, click on ‘Login’ and select ‘Forgot password’.   

Can I add a cash donation? 

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Yes. You can add a cash donation in three easy steps: 

  1. Log into your MyMarathon account and go to your dashboard 
  2. Select the ‘My donations’ button 
  3. Click ‘Add cash donation’. 

You can then follow the prompts to add the cash to your page using your credit or debit card.  

FUNDRAISING 

Do you have any tools to help me with my fundraising?  

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When you register for MyMarathon youll gain access to loads of fundraising tips and downloadable resources, like social media tiles, and posters. All these resources are designed to help you raise money, thank your sponsors and share your progress. 

Where do the funds go? 

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When you sign up for MyMarathon and ask friends and family to sponsor you, you’ll be making a meaningful difference to your own heart health, as well as the hearts of others.

Your funds will help support:

  • lifesaving heart research that could transform heart disease diagnosis and treatment
  • health professionals who prevent and treat heart disease
  • programs, resources and professional advice for people at risk of heart disease. 

How can people donate? 

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Ask your friends and family to donate directly to your fundraising page. That way the money will come to the Heart Foundation automatically, and they will receive a tax receipt instantly. If you’ve been given cash, you can donate the money to your fundraising page on their behalf using a credit or debit card.

How can I change my fundraising goal?  

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If you hit your fundraising target before 31 October, consider increasing your target! Simply log in to your fundraising page, click on ‘Edit My Page’ and update your fundraising target.   

Can I thank my donors? 

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Absolutely. Once you sign up to MyMarathon dashboard you’ll have access to loads of free resources such as email templates and social media assets that you can use to thank your donors.  

You can also choose to send thank you messages directly from your dashboard by clicking ‘my donations’ and following the prompts. 

FITNESS ACTIVITY 

How do I log my kilometres? 

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You can log your kilometres in two ways:   

  1. Link your fundraising page to a fitness tracker or app:  
  • Download the FitBit, mapmyfitness, Garmin or Strava app on your smartphone. After creating an account with your preferred app, login to your MyMarathon account and head to the ‘My Fitness Activity’ tab to connect to your fitness app.   
  • Please allow 24 hours for your activity to show up on your fundraising page.   
  1. Log your kilometres manually  
  • Log in to your online fundraising page and head to the ‘My Fitness Activity’ to record your activity.  
      

For detailed instructions on how to log your kilometres, please click here.

What happens if I forget to track my kilometres?  

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You can manually add kilometres in two simple steps. First, log in to your fundraising page and select MyFitness Activity’. Then under ‘Add activity’, enter the date and distance. Your additional kilometres will then appear on your fundraising page.    

Can I start tracking kilometres before 1 October? 

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Yes! You can connect your fitness device and start tracking your kilometres as soon as you sign up. But these training kilometres will be cleared on 30 September, the day before MyMarathon starts.    

What happens to kilometres logged before October? 

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Your training kilometres will be cleared 30 September, the day before the MyMarathon challenge starts on 1 October. 

Can I change my distance goal? 

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Yes, you can set a distance goal that suits you. Setting a goal that is personally challenging will make others more likely to support you. 

Simply, log in to your MyMarathon account and head to your dashboard. Scroll down to your fitness milestone bar where you’ll see an ‘update my fitness goal’ button. Follow the prompts to change your goal – don't forget to click save at the bottom of the page when you are done.  

What fitness devices can I connect with? 

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You can connect to any device that can host one of the following fitness Apps: MapMyFitness, Garmin, Strava or Fitbit.

Can I use my Apple or Samsung watch to log kms? 

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Yes, you can. Simply download one of the following fitness apps onto your watch: 

  • Mapmyfitness
  • Strava 

Once the app is downloaded, log in and accept the permission request to access your data. If you’ve connected your fundraising page to your preferred app you will be set up and ready to go. If you haven’t connected your fundraising page yet, follow the instructions here.

Please note some older devices may not allow you to download your preferred fitness app. Refer to the Samsung or Apple support websites for assistance.

FACEBOOK FUNDRAISER

What is a Facebook fundraiser?  

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A Facebook fundraiser is a NEW fundraising feature available through your MyMarathon dashboard this year. 

It will help turbocharge your fundraising by creating a linked Facebook fundraiser to your MyMarathon fundraising page, allowing your friends and family to make a donation to you while they scroll social media! 

The best part? It only takes a few clicks to set up and the additional donations you receive via Facebook will be added to your MyMarathon fundraising page. 

When you create a Facebook fundraiser through your MyMarathon dashboard, you’ll get a new Facebook page that acts like a Facebook group.  

The page allows you to share your MyMarathon fundraiser with your friends, tell people why you’re taking part, provide updates to your supporters and ask for donations. 

How do I create a Facebook fundraiser? 

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A Facebook fundraiser can be set up in just a few clicks. 

  1. Login to your MyMarathon dashboard. 
  2. Click the blue button prompting you to “Create a Facebook Fundraiser” 
  3. Follow the prompts and a fundraiser will be created and shared on your Facebook page.

If you set up a Facebook fundraiser directly through Facebook then this will not be linked to your MyMarathon fundraising page. If you have done this, we suggest you delete this page and follow the above steps. 

How can I personalise my Facebook fundraiser? 

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When you create your Facebook fundraiser, Facebook will create a MyMarathon fundraising page for you by pulling through the information you have included on your MyMarathon fundraising page.  

You can personalise your Facebook fundraiser after the page has been created by editing the post and changing features such as your fundraising goal and cover photo. 

You can also use your Facebook fundraising page to provide updates, photos and messages of thanks to supporters.  

I’ve just received a donation on my Facebook fundraiser. Why has my fundraising total not been updated on my MyMarathon page? 

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It can take a couple of hours for a donation on your Facebook fundraiser to show up on your MyMarathon page. We suggest checking back later and your donation should be there.

How do I share my Facebook fundraiser with my friends?  

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The easiest way is using the blue ‘invite’ button at the top of your Facebook fundraiser page. This will directly invite your friends to support you. 

Why is my fundraising goal different on my Facebook fundraiser? 

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Your fundraising goal won’t be brought across to your Facebook fundraiser but don’t worry, it’s easy to update! 

Just follow these steps: 

  1. Click ‘edit’ in the top right-hand corner of the goal tab on your Facebook fundraiser. 
  2. Change the fundraising goal in the left-hand panel. 
  3. Done! 

Why can’t I see all my MyMarathon donations on my Facebook fundraiser? 

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Your Facebook fundraiser will only show donations that have been made via Facebook, and only those that have come through since creating the page.  

Because of this, donations made through your MyMarathon page won’t show on your Facebook fundraiser. 

We recommend looking to your MyMarathon page as the primary source of information on your fundraising efforts. 

Can my team/ workplace have a Facebook fundraiser?  

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Unfortunately, not. You can only create a Facebook fundraiser for your individual MyMarathon page.  

I’ve already created a Facebook fundraiser for MyMarathon, will those funds now be included on my dashboard? 

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Any existing Facebook fundraisers won't be linked to your MyMarathon page, so these donations won’t show up on your MyMarathon dashboard.  

If you would like to receive donations through Facebook, we recommend clicking the blue ‘Create a Facebook fundraiser’ link on your MyMarathon dashboard. 

Is this the same as adding a donate button to my post on Facebook?  

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No. When sharing an update on Facebook, some users will receive a prompt to add a “Donate” button to their post. The Facebook “Donate” button takes donations through a different third-party, so they won’t appear on your MyMarathon fundraising page.

We recommend sharing your MyMarathon fundraiser on Facebook by either: 

  1. Creating a Facebook fundraiser by clicking the link on your MyMarathon dashboard.  
  2. Sharing the link to your MyMarathon page on Facebook and collecting donations there.  

MyMarathon is running a promotion where anyone who donates to a MyMarathon participant goes in the draw to win a prize. Will I be eligible if I make a donation via the Facebook fundraiser?  

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We recommend you check the Terms and Conditions for each promotion’s entry conditions 

I’ve shared my Fundraising page on Facebook and it prompted me to add a donate button to my post. 

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We don’t recommend using Facebook’s ‘Donate’ button to raise funds for MyMarathon as we can’t link donations back to your MyMarathon fundraising page or be counted towards your fundraising total. 

If you’ve already used the button in a Facebook post, we suggest that you delete the post, as this is the only way to remove the Facebook ‘donate’ button. 

If you would like to raise money for MyMarathon on Facebook, we suggest: 

  1. Creating a Facebook fundraiser by clicking the link on your MyMarathon dashboard.  
  2. Sharing the link to your MyMarathon page on Facebook and collecting donations there.  

I’ve accidentally deleted my Facebook fundraiser and can’t seem to share another one from my page. Can you help? 

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Unfortunately, not. If you delete your MyMarathon Facebook fundraiser, you can’t create another one.  

To continue fundraising on Facebook, we suggest sharing the link to your MyMarathon fundraising page, so your contacts can make a donation there. 

I don't want a Facebook fundraiser on my personal page anymore, how can I delete it? 

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You will need to first delete the fundraiser itself to be able to delete your post attached to it.  

Note that if you delete your Facebook fundraiser, you'll be unable to create another one. 

TEAMS

Can I join a team? 

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You can join a team by clicking on the "Join us" button on their fundraising page. 

Can I create a team after I’ve registered? 

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Yes. Log in to your MyMarathon account and head to your dashboard. From here, select ‘create a team’ and follow the prompts. 

Can I invite people to join my team? 

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Here are the three best ways to invite family, friends and colleagues to join your team:  

  • Share your team page and ask people to sign up by clicking the ‘Join us’ button. 
  • On your team dashboard, select ‘my team’ and then ‘my team members’. Follow the prompts on this page to send people an email invite to join your team.  
  • Go to the ‘share and invite’ section on your dashboard and follow the prompts. 

WORKPLACES

How can I join a workplace team? 

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You can join a workplace team by clicking on the "Join us" button on the workplace’s fundraising page.   

Can I update my workplace page/target/logo? 

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Yes, your workplace team captain can update your workplace details. 

Simply log in to your MyMarathon account, go to your dashboard and select ‘my workplace’. 

To update your workplace logo, you can select the camera icon next to the big circle and follow the prompts.  

To update your target, select ‘edit workplace page’. On this page you can also update your main message and post updates about your company’s progress. 

I’ve registered my workplace, how do I create multiple workplace teams? 

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As a workplace team captain, you can create one team using the ‘create a team’ function in your dashboard. You can only be part of one team at a time.  

To create additional teams, you’ll need to recruit team leaders by sharing your workplace fundraising page and encouraging team leaders to click ‘Join us’ and follow the prompts. 

PRIZES

How can I win a MyMarathon T-shirt? 

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The first 900 participants to raise $100 or more on their fundraising page will receive a MyMarathon T-shirt.

How will I know if I’ve won my shirt?

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You will receive an email from us letting you know that it’s on its way.  

Where are competition winners announced? 

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Competition winners will be contacted directly by email.  

Winners’ names will also be published on our Competition Terms and Conditions page (please note this excludes the MyMarathon T-shirt winners. 

If we haven’t been able to answer your question here, our dedicated support team can help you out. 

Send an email to mymarathon@heartfoundation.org.au