The BTR Virtual Liverpool Santa Dash takes place in less than three weeks, and organisers are urging participants to support the eight official event charities and community food banks while enjoying their festive 5K fun run.
As national lockdown lifts, the Santa Dash pop-up shop opens in Williamson Square on Wednesday 2 December. The shop is located next to Matalan, and is part of St Johns Shopping Centre.
The two-week delay in opening due to lockdown means that the virtual event date has also changed. The BTR Virtual Liverpool Santa Dash will now take place on Sunday 20 December 2020.
Highly regarded as the city’s kick-start to Christmas, this year’s event marks the 17th consecutive year of the Liverpool Santa Dash.
Organisers BTR Liverpool announced in September that the annual festive spectacular would change to a virtual format this year due to the ongoing coronavirus global pandemic and strict social distancing guidelines.
Making the event a virtual run allows Santas to dash wherever they are located while still following Government guidelines and maintaining social distancing – enabling participants to get their festive fix despite the challenging times everyone has faced.
Once participants have collected their Santa pack – which includes run number, red or blue Santa suit, and bespoke medal – they are welcome to complete their 5K festive fun at a time convenient to them.
Almost 1,500 Santas have already registered, including international entrants from Australia, Denmark, Dubai, Germany, Ireland, Isle Of Man, Sweden, and the United States of America.
The Santa Dash pop-up shop will be open daily for Santa suit collection and registration between Wednesday 2 December and Saturday 19 December. Opening times are Monday to Saturday from 9.30am to 5pm, and 11am to 4pm on Sunday.
This year, BTR has also introduced a postage service. When registering online, participants can choose to have their full Santa pack, including Santa suit and medal, sent out to them direct for a small charge.
Every entry really counts as organisers BTR Liverpool has pledged to split the Santa Dash profits equally between the official event charities.
The eight charities who will benefit are Alder Hey Children’s Charity, Claire House Children’s Hospice, Clatterbridge Cancer Charity, Marie Curie, North West Air Ambulance Charity, Nugent, Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, and Wirral University Teaching Hospital Charity.
Santas can also help to make a difference by donating to food banks. As part of BTR Liverpool’s commitment to support community projects, they are once again working with Fans Supporting Foodbanks, who usually collect food bank items on match days at Anfield and Goodison.
The Santa Dash pop-up shop will feature a collection point for donations of non-perishable food. Items desperately needed include tinned potatoes, tinned vegetables (tomatoes, carrots, peas, sweetcorn), mashed potato, fruit juice, coffee, curry and pasta sauce, custard, cup a soups, noodles, and jam.
The BTR Liverpool Santa Dash was created by BTR Race Director Alan Rothwell and first staged in 2004. A separate 1K Mini Dash for under 12s was added in 2007, and blue Santa suits were introduced three years later.
To register for the BTR Liverpool Santa Dash visit www.btrliverpool.com