Santas will go online as festive fun is tweaked
COVID MEANS ASHBY RUN IS CANCELLED – BUT THERE WILL BE A HOME-BASED EVENT
A POPULAR event that sees hundreds of runners don Santa suits and swarm through a town’s streets in a sea of red is among the latest to be cancelled this year.
It had been hoped the Ashby Santa Fun Run and Walk would be able to go ahead for the sixth edition.
But organisers have had to call it off due to the pandemic and social distancing fears.
The event is popular with runners and crowds alike, attracting 1,000-plus entries. Many run the event but lots walk it in their Father Christmas suits and white beards.
However, its committee has come up with a “Joe Wicks-style” alternative solution, which will see families asked to done their Santa suits as they usually do and exercise at home or in their gardens and join an online streamed event.
A spokesman for the organising committee said: “While some limited mass participation events do seem to be taking place, they are under such strict conditions that we probably could not meet them, or at least meet them while maintaining the ethos and community feel of our event.
“We do though recognise that our event was very popular and bookmarked many people’s start to Christmas, so we have come up with an alternative for this year.
“On Sunday, December 13, at 11am we will be streaming via Youtube, and make accessible on our Facebook page the ‘Ashby Santa Family Fun’.
“This will be a ‘Joe Wicks style’ exercise session very much Christmasthemed and aimed at fun-loving people covering all ages and abilities, much like the traditional Ashby Santa fun run and walk.
“We will be encouraging all who take part to do so in Santa suits or fancy dress, but safe in their own homes or gardens.
“The fun workout will last for about 30 minutes and be interspersed with video footage from previous Santa fun runs.
“There will be no charge for taking part in this event, although we will be welcoming donations from people who are able to via a Justgiving link and any money that we raise will be passed on to local charities as we would if we were able to hold our traditional event.
“We hope that the event will at least bring some Christmas cheer to the Ashby community and, whilst it isn’t the event that we wanted to host, we felt that it was important to try and do something that will create a sense of Christmas joy within our community and to avoid this event simply being another full victim of this dreadful virus.
“We will be encouraging people to share their videos and photographs of them taking part in this fun event via our Facebook page and we’ll also be using a selection of the best ones on our event website.
“This has been a really tough year for a lot of people and we hope that the continuation of this event, even in a different form this year, will help to give families something to look forward to and to have some fun within the community.
“It’s also been a really tough time for local charities and so if any entrants feel that they are able to support this event by making some sort of a donation, we would be overwhelmed and we will pass funds raised on to some wonderful local charities.
“While not offering formal sponsorship opportunities for businesses this year due to the event being toned down, if any businesses felt that they would like to make a donation towards the event for charity then we would give full credit on publicity material, social media and on our video on the day.
“If you can support us and want more details, please contact the event director on kevindereksanders@gmail.com”
We hope that the event will at least bring some Christmas cheer to the Ashby community
Santa ‘Family Fun’ committee