The annual Ashby Santa Fun Run and Walk has been confirmed for the first Sunday in December.

Ashby Castle Rotary Club has announced the return of the event which will be staged on December 3 from 10.45 am.

Now in its ninth year, the event has become a fixture of the Ashby calendar as part of the Christmas weekend which sees the Christmas Fair in Market Street - and the Christmas lights switched on - over the same weekend.

For many, this marks the start of the Christmas season in the town.

The event will run with its ever-popular format - the picturesque 3km route around Ashby being open for people to run or walk.

The Rotary Club is asking all entrants to dress up in their most festive Christmas gear, be it their own Santa suits, Christmas jumpers, reindeer suits or anything else that shouts Christmas.

To encourage participants to go to town with their festive costumes this year, there will be prizes for the best festive dressed Santa Fun Runners in men's, women's, boys under-16 and girls under-16 categories.

Thanks to sponsorship from Pet Deli in Ashby, there will also be a pet-themed prize for the best festive dressed dog.

Entry fees will be £7 per person for all age groups, and the event will be offering a group ticket of £25 for a group of four.

All entrants will receive a 2023 event medal and all Christmas-dressed children will get a free chocolate bar at the end of the run.

There will be plenty to entertain at the Bath Grounds on the day, including a face painter and children's rides. There will be refreshments on offer provided by Ashby Hastings Cricket Club, including mulled wine and mince pies.

Before the event starts, there will be fun warm-up, as well as giving of prizes for the best dressed competition, Christmas music for the duration of the event and plenty of refreshments available. The Rotary Club will again partner with the Sweet Memory Lane traditional sweet shop in Ashby, and all Christmas-dressed entrants will be able to collect a post-event treat from the shop after completing the course.

The support the Ashby Santa Fun Run receives from local businesses in sponsorship and all of the Santas who take part, means the event has raised around £80,000 for local charities in the last eight years. The main charities set to benefit from this year's event are Hospice Hope (soon to become Bright Hope), me&dee and Home Start with net proceeds split between these charities and the Rotary Club.

All of the charities help to continue the organisers' belief in supporting local good causes for this event, and all do valuable work to help local people in need of all ages in the local area.

Further information on all three charities is available on the Ashby Santa Fun Run & Walk website.

Santa Run resident compere Chris Knight will be on hand once again to talk to the Santas as they arrive back on the Bath Grounds, and entertain the many people who come and support the event.

Ashby Hastings Cricket Club who will be opening up the pavilion for facilities and refreshments throughout the morning.

The 'real' Rotary Santa and sleigh will also be on hand to talk to young and old alike - and giving out plenty of chocolate.

The Rotary Club will again be encouraging Fun Run and Walkers to collect some personal sponsorship for taking part in this event but this continues to remain optional.

To help to raise even more money for the very worthy causes a downloadable sponsor form will be available on the event website to allow people to raise personal sponsorship to take part in the event if they wish.

Dale Warren from the Rotary Club of Ashby Castle said: "We love organising this event and seeing the Bath Grounds painted in festive colours with all of those happy faces brings great joy and makes all of the planning that goes in to it worthwhile.

"The community and local area has always embraced the Ashby Santa Fun Run and Walk and we're really appreciative of that.

"We've got three great local charities again to support this year and we're sure with the support of local businesses and residents we'll be able to raise another fantastic sum of money for these very worthy local causes.

"We're particularly excited by our new 'best festive dressed' competition this year where we'll be giving out some great prizes to the winners, and so we encourage everybody to come in your best festive outfits! We have raised around £80,000 in eight years and this shows both the popularity of the event and the great support we've received from all, and we thank everybody who has helped us to achieve this".

Oganisers are still encouraging local businesses to get in touch if they would like to get involved with this event - with the opportunity to get their company name out there to up to 1,500 local participants and the wider community.

For more information and to find out about sponsorship packages starting at just £50, please contact Kevin Sanders via email at [email protected].

Online entry for the Ashby Santa Fun Run and Walk will open later on in October on the event website HERE.

A downloadable paper entry form is also provided there.

Full details of the event are also available here or on the event Facebook page HERE .

If you are interested in finding out more about Rotary or would like to come along to the Rotary Club of Ashby de la Zouch Castle, contact secretary Debbie Hamilton at [email protected] or click HERE.