I took part in the Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity ‘Santa Dash’ event for the first time last year, and really enjoyed it.
I’m a huge supporter of Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity, and their annual Santa Dash 5K is great fun. Up £2 from last year but still very generous, the £22 entry fee included a Santa outfit, bespoke medal, mulled wine and mince pie. Perfect! I signed up online with mum and we received our race packs a few days before the event.
So on Sunday 8th December we caught the 9am-ish train from Tonbridge to Herne Hill, arriving just before 10:30am. The event was easy to find, just a few minutes’ walk from the station. With the run starting at 11am, there was time to explore the Event Village, which contained a merchandise stall, information tent, food and beverage stands, toilets, face painting and a photo-booth (both ‘free’ in return for a donation). There was a sea of Santa runners and the atmosphere was lovely, with Christmas music playing and an energetic warm-up taking place on stage, and the GOSH bear wandering around for photos!
The weather was surprisingly warm, almost muggy, and dry. I wore Ivy Park leggings and a Primark sports bra under a long-sleeve base layer, plus black trainer socks with Brooks Ghost 10 trainers. The Santa suit was enormous – you could have fit two of me in there! – so I held it up with my own belt. My bum-bag contained the essentials: keys, phone, debit card, lip-balm, mints, tissues! I’d consumed a vegetarian sausage baguette with a chai latte coffee and a Beanies coffee, and felt ready to run.
The Start Line was well-organised and clearly spilt into 10K and 5K runner areas, with a funny, motivating Santa MC keeping everyone entertained. The 5K route was a hilly two laps around Brockwell Park, with the 10K runners doing four laps! There were a few muddy patches from previous rainfall, but nothing concerning. Runners were set off in waves to avoid congestion, which worked well, and we weren’t bottle-necked at any point despite the amount of participants. The marshals were motivating and encouraging, which was lovely.
The Finish area was lined with cheering supporters, and a bespoke medal was hung around our necks as we crossed the line. The information tent handed out mince pies and (generous, strong!) cups of mulled wine.
Once again, mum and I loved this event. It was really good fun and definitely something different to do on a Sunday morning! No doubt we’ll take part each year 🙂
NEXT UP: Kings Hill Christmas 5K, Sunday 22 December 2019
Laura's footprints 