The Extraordinary Fight, Hope and Advocacy of Swimmer Archie Goodburn
SIGN THIS PETITION - https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/738881
AP Race is extremely fortunate to meet and work with many incredible people in our swimming community. During our AP Race Clinics Summer Tour in 2025, our team was joined by an incredible athlete and young man, Archie Goodburn. His story is one of equal heartbreak and inspiration, and we are humbled to be able to share and support the campaigning Archie has been undertaking.
The 24-year-old Scottish swimmer was a former training peer to AP Race Co-founders Adam Peaty and Ed Baxter at the Loughborough Performance Centre. A National Champion and Record-Holder who once had his sights firmly set on the Paris Olympics, now finds himself fighting a different battle: one for his life, his future, and for the thousands of young people affected by brain cancer every year.
In the summer of 2024, Archie walked out of training at Edinburgh’s Commonwealth Pool to find a missed call from an unknown number. At first he rang his mum, wondering if she had heard anything about the tests he'd recently undergone. She hadn’t, but doctors had tried to reach her.
Moments later, sitting poolside in the very place he had trained his whole life, Archie returned the call and received the devastating news that he had been diagnosed with brain cancer. At the time, Archie was just 22 years old and further tests revealed three low-grade, inoperable tumours spread through his brain. In an instant, a young athlete in peak physical condition was confronted with his own mortality.
“It was utter shock,” he recalled. “Going from a healthy, young person to suddenly being told you have this ticking time-bomb in your brain… and there’s nothing we can do to stop it.”
As he learned more, Archie was stunned by how little awareness exists for a disease so deadly. On Good Morning Britain in an interview recently, he told viewers through tears:
“Brain cancer kills more men under 70 than prostate cancer, more women under 35 than breast cancer, and more children than leukaemia — yet public awareness is nowhere near that.”
Brain cancer receives just 1% of national cancer research funding, despite being responsible for the most “years of life lost” of any cancer. For Archie, that imbalance is unacceptable — and he’s determined to make a change.
What has given Archie the most promise is a targeted drug that has given him back both hope and quality of life. But the medication is currently awaiting regulatory approval in the UK, with no guarantee it will be authorised. On GMB, he struggled to contain his emotion as he explained:
“This drug allows me to live my life, fulfil my dreams and contribute to society… Without it, people’s lives will be shorter and their quality of life will massively decline.”
Despite everything, Archie continues to train. Within a month of his first surgery, he won a Scottish title. Last year, he equalled his personal best at the World Short Course Championships, an achievement he once feared impossible after diagnosis.
He went to compete at this year’s World University Games and has ambitions to race at next year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Over the AP Race Clinics Summer Tour 2025 he inspired over 750 young athletes, over 1000 parents and over 100 coaches, with his passion for the sport, his openness to discussing his challenges, and the impact he had by inspiring the next generation of young athletes that anything is possible.
As Archie continues campaigning and competing, his story has resonated across the UK. Viewers, teammates, coaches and strangers have rallied behind him. His courage, his honesty, and his unwavering determination have made him more than an athlete - he has become a voice for a community that desperately needs one.
At AP Race we are proud to share Archie’s campaign and would urge our community to sign the petition calling for more investment in awareness and treatment of brain cancer. You can find the link here: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/738881