Bolton Arena holds 5k Santa Dash, spreading festive cheer

Bolton Arena held its annual 5k Santa Dash on Sunday, December 10 in aid of Bolton Hospice. 

A total of 89 Father Christmases braved the sodden conditions to compete in the run, with a shorter 1k dash being held for children in fancy dress. 

Louise Miller, corporate and events manager at Bolton Arena, said: "We always have a nominated charity that we raise money for throughout the year, and our one this year is Bolton Hospice. 

Bolton Arena's Santa Dash (Image: Bolton Arena)

"We didn't ask anyone to sponsor, it was just more about taking part getting people into the arena as well. 

"We are doing other things as well during December, we are just in the middle of putting it together. 

"We would be looking at raising around £400 for Bolton Hospice by the end of it."

She added: "There were 89 runners and the weather was awful, it's good they actually came out! We did one last year and had to postpone it twice. There was a few.

Santas running (Image: Bolton Arena)

"If it had been a week before then everyone would have had to have done it in ice and snow. 

"We choose a charity each year, and this year we saw on Facebook that Bolton Hospice were struggling for fundraising, so quite a few of us in the building have been in or had relatives in Bolton Hospice. 

"We always do a different one each year, we did it for Urban Outreach last year." 

Louise added: "Also we did a 1k mini-rush around the track afterwards for children from three up to 12 in fancy dress. 

The Santas at the fundraiser (Image: Bolton Arena)

"It's good to get the children active, and we work with Horwich Harriers when doing it. It was torrential rain when they were running, but they all loved it and had fun." 

This comes as The Bolton News has run its "Save Bolton Hospice" campaign this year following the announcement that the charity was operating at a £1.2m loss. 

Last month, it was announced that more than £450,000 had been raised so far by the campaign.