Hundreds of Santas will be heading for Shrewsbury next month on a mission to raise money for the Severn Hospice with a charity fun run.

The Salop Santa Dash on Sunday, December 3 is designed to be a fun event for all the family. Runners will have the option to run one or two laps of a 2.5 kilometre course around Salop Leisure and the adjoining Love2Stay glamping and touring resort.

The £10 entry fee includes a Santa suit and all the money raised will be donated to Severn Hospice. Entries will be limited to 500 and places will be on a first come basis. For details visit www.salopsantarun.co.uk.

The Salop Santa Dash, which is being supported by Rybrook MINI Shrewsbury, is the brainchild of Salop Leisure’s marketing manager Ed Glover. He is being helped by Simon Macdonald from Love Fitness at Salop Leisure who organises the successful Mercedes Benz Shrewsbury 10km run and the UK Mud Run.

Launching the Salop Santa Dash and Christmas celebrations at Salop Leisure and Love2Stay are Santa with (from left) Simon Macdonald from Love Fitness at Salop Leisure, Lucy Ruff, Severn Hospice’s fundraising manager, Tory Bissell from Rybrook MINI Shrewsbury, Laura Wilde and Carrie Hughes from Pink Pebble Events, organisers of Shropshire Handmade and Vintage Christmas Fair and Ed Glover, Salop Leisure’s marketing manager.

“It’s a huge honour to host the first event of this kind at Salop Leisure,” said Ed. “We enjoy coming up with new ways of raising money for local charities and hope everyone gets behind this event to help us raise a significant sum for Severn Hospice.” 

Simon added: “We think it will be a great family event in the lead up to Christmas and our advice is to book your places early, as there is already huge interest from people wishing to take part.   

“Run, jog or walk with hundreds of other wannabe Santas and enjoy a well-earned mulled wine or hot chocolate at the end!”

Love Fitness at Salop Leisure will be welcoming members of the public to the boutique fitness studio and purpose-built bootcamp training facility and assault course in the run up to Christmas. Simon will throw down a challenge during the Salop Santa Dash to discover how many Santas he can get on the assault course.

Emma Robinson, marketing co-ordinator for Rybrook MINI Shrewsbury, said: “We are very pleased to be supporting the Salop Santa Dash to raise funds for such a fantastic local cause.”

Lucy Ruff, Severn Hospice’s fundraising manager, explained that the hospice needs to raise £7 million a year or £24,000 a day to provide services to more than 2,000 people across Shropshire and Mid Wales annually.

“We support local people and their families when they need it most, either in the hospice or in their home,” she added. “Severn Hospice is delighted to be the chosen charity for the Salop Santa Dash and we are looking forward to getting people involved in celebrating Christmas whilst at the same time raising funds.”

The Salop Santa Dash is just one of an action-packed programme of events planned by Salop Leisure and Love2Stay to celebrate Christmas this year. Other highlights will be a 16-metre by nine metre ice rink, the Shropshire Handmade and Vintage Christmas Fair and a special Santa’s Grotto.

The gift fair kicks off the festive celebrations on November 25-26 when there will be up to 60 stalls selling all type of handmade and unique craft and giftware for Christmas. Last year, around 10,000 people attended the event over the weekend.

The grotto will be open every weekend up until Christmas as well as on selected evenings and parents will be able to bring their children to have tea with Santa on selected dates from 3pm to 6pm.

The new ice rink will be located at Love2Stay and will be open to the public who will park at Salop Leisure and be transported on a festive land train to and from the resort. Schools will be invited to send groups of children to enjoy the ice skating and other facilities. 

For full details of the Salop Leisure’s Christmas events programme, visit www.salopchristmas.co.uk.