Ashby Castle Rotary Club has announced the return of the Ashby Santa Fun Run & Walk for 2026 which will be staged on Sunday 6 December 2026, setting off at 1100 am from Ashby's Bath Grounds.

This year will be the 12th event of the popular fun run and walk which is open to all ages and abilities.

The 2025 event was another bumper success for local charities with over £10,000 being given away to a variety of beneficiaries.

Some 699 people came out in force in 2025 dressed as Santas, Elves, Christmas presents, Christmas puddings, in Christmas jumpers and pyjamas and many more Christmas themed outfits.

It has become a firm fixture of the Ashby Christmas calendar, lining up as part of the Ashby Christmas weekend which sees the Ashby Christmas Fair return to Market Street and the Christmas lights switch on over the same weekend. For many this weekend marks the start of the Christmas season in Ashby.

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

The Rotary Club is asking all entrants to dress up in their most festive Christmas outfits 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, there will be the return of the festive fancy dress competition with a mix of fantastic prizes provided a number of the event supporters.

They will be judging for the best festive dressed Santa Fun Runners in men's, women's, boy's under 16, girl's under 16 and family categories. There will also be a pet themed prize for the best festive dressed dog.

Entry fees will be just £8 per person for all age groups and the event will be offering a group ticket of £28 for a group of four to bring even better value. All entrants will receive a 2026 event medal and a well earnt free chocolate bar at the end of the fun run.

Thanks to the wonderful support the Ashby Santa Fun Run & Walk continues to receive from local businesses in sponsorship and all of the Santa's who take part, the event has raised over £110,000 for local charities in the last 11 years.

The main charities set to benefit from this years event are me&dee and Bright Hope in North West Leicestershire, with net proceeds split between these charities and the Rotary Club.

As always, the Rotary Club choose local charities in Leicestershire to support at this event and both charities do a huge amount of good for local communities in and around Ashby.

A number of smaller donations will also be made to other small, local charities in the area subject to the amount of money raised by the event. Further information on both main charities is available on the Ashby Santa Fun Run & Walk website.

The event takes participants on a 3km route of Ashby taking in some of the town's sights, starting and finishing on the Bath Grounds.

There will be refreshments available and festive music being played throughout the event.

The fun starts from 10:30 with the judging of the best festive dressed competition, followed by a fun warm up routine to famous Christmas songs delivered by Fitness Republic before the fun run and walk sets off at 11:00. Of course, there will also be a visit from the 'real' Rotary Santa too, giving out plenty of chocolates to young and old alike.

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

The Rotary Club will again be encouraging Fun Run & Walkers to collect some personal sponsorship for taking part in this event to help raise much needed funding for the supported charities so why not encourage friends and relatives to sponsor you to take part?

To help 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: "It always comes around really quickly each year and our plans are coming together now for the 12th Ashby Santa Fun Run & Walk. Entries are now open through our event website www.ashbysantarun.com.

"We're supporting two fantastic local charities again this year and we hope to raise lots of money to help them to continue the amazing work that they do, adding to the £110,000 that we've raised over the last 11 years of this event.

"None of this can be achieved without the support of the local community and we can't wait to see lots of Santa's new and old descend on the Bath Grounds on 6 December!".

There are lots of local businesses on board already sponsoring and supporting the Santa Fun Run & Walk but the event organisers are still encouraging local businesses to get in touch if they would like to get involved with this event and the opportunity to get their company name out there to up to 1,500 local participants and the wider community, as well as the other benefits that sponsorship can bring.

For more information and to find out about sponsorship packages starting at just £100, please contact Kevin Sanders via email at [email protected].

Online entry for the Ashby Santa Fun Run and Walk is now open on the event website.

A downloadable paper entry form is also provided here. Full details of the event are also available on the event Facebook page.