LEVERHULME Park will ring with the sound of flapping rubber when thousands of people attempt to run around the race track wearing diving fins.

That is the aim of Bolton Area Divers, who have created The Great North Frog March, a charity race with a difference.

Teams of five will have to complete five laps of the track — but there is one minor hitch.

Organiser Jeff Hulme said: “You can’t walk forwards in fins because it’s too dangerous, so you’ll only be able to run sideways or backwards.

“It’s just going to be a big daft day. We do a couple of daft things every year, but this will be one of the daftest. Everybody we’ve talked to about it says it’s an absolutely stupid idea. “We’re coming out of a recession, the sun’s going to be shining — let’s have a bit of daftness in Bolton.”

Mr Hulme said he wants the event to be bigger than Race For Life.

The divers will have their work cut out to match the 3,000 women who took part in last year’s Race For Life, but they are hoping the silliness of the event and the challenge of completing it will give it a wide appeal.

The army, fire service and police will all be invited to take part, as will diving groups from across the region. The organisers have done a deal with a fin manufacturer to get hold of cheap fins, and they will be provided as part of the cost of entry, which is £50 for a team of five.

Other fun events will take place on the day, including a children’s version of the race, called the tadpole toddle, and fin flinging, the divers’ equivalent of welly wanging.

Money raised from the event will go to Bolton Lads and Girls Club, the Royal National Lifeboat Institute and a cancer charity.

The Great North Frog March is the latest in a long line of wacky ideas from the Bolton Area Divers, who have previously tucked into an underwater Christmas dinner and were this year only prevented from creating an underwater Santa’s grotto by illness.

The race will take place on May 9. Call 01204 394441 for more information.

julian.thorpe@ theboltonnews.co.uk