Hospice lays down Gauntlet challenge
ALOCAL charity is offering free tickets for a hilarious gameshow style obstacle course event in Heaton Park this September.
St Ann’s Hospice is offering local people the chance to take part in the Gauntlet Games – a series of 5km and 10km races which are on tour across the UK – and battle against real Gladiators to raise money for the hospice.
The event will take place in Heaton Park on September 16.
Hannah Saunders, head of fundraising for St Ann’s, explained: “This event is the world’s only obstacle course with real Gladiators, armed with inflatable weapons, paint guns and foam. It is the perfect fun day out with friends and we’re offering free places to anyone who is happy to raise sponsorship for St Ann’s.
“We just ask that any participants try to raise £100 in sponsorship at the event, to help us to provide care to local people with cancer and other life-limiting illnesses. Oh and we ask that you have fun and get messy too!”
St Ann’s is the official charity partner for The Gauntlet Games, an event which was created in 2015 by Sarah King, who wanted to give people the chance of having real fun while running.
She said: “I find running quite boring, so I wanted to find a way to make it fun. I think everyone would love to take part in game-show obstacle courses and Gladiators was one of my favourites.
“We love seeing people come face-to-face with the friendly Gladiators on our course, in giggles as they take on our huge inflatable, water and foam obstacles. This is all about doing something active and healthy, but having great fun doing so. To add to this, about 50 per cent of our runners raise money for hundreds of different charities so they’re doing good whilst getting fit.”
Throughout the course all runners will face obstacles such as giant foamy slides, bouncing inflatables and wobbly water bridges – and not forgetting more than 20 ‘friendly’ Gladiators!
The grand finale will be the flagship ‘Gauntlet’ – an eight-metre long inflatable runway with three Gladiators to dodge, followed by a jump onto a giant air bag to the finish line.
Anyone wanting to support St Ann’s with their run of the Gauntlet can find out more by visiting www.sah. org.uk, emailing the team at events@sah.org.uk or calling 0161 498 3631.