Record-breaking Santa Dash raises £1,105 for the GBC Open Day

Gibraltar’s largest-ever Santa Dash, organised by the Carpe Diem Running Club, saw over 200 participants raise £1,105 for GBC Open Day with a festive 2.8km fun run through town, featuring music and prizes.

The annual charity event, now in its fourth year, took place on Tuesday evening with each participant paying £5 to take part.

“It’s thought the event is now the largest running event of the year in Gibraltar,” said a statement from the running club.

The festive fun run saw runners complete a 2.8km loop that started and finished at The Wine Shop on Main Street.

On finishing the event, runners were rewarded with a complimentary Santa Dash Wine Glass, as well as free red wine, cheese, ham, chocolate and mince pies.

This year also saw the Gibraltar Sea Scouts Pipe Band volunteer their time to mark the start and the end of the event with festive music.

A number of children from the Lourdians Athletics Club also ran the event, with some running a shorter dash from Casemates to the Cathedral which helped raise £300 towards the event.

And at the end of the dash, chocolates were awarded to the best festively-dressed man, woman and child.

“We’re very pleased to say that this was by far the biggest Santa Dash we’ve organised to date, and the most amount of money we’ve raised for the GBC Open Day,” said Carpe Diem committee member Ashley Maer.

“There was a fantastic Christmas atmosphere last night with people of all ages and running abilities dressing up as Santa, Elves and Grinches to have fun whilst raising money for a great cause.”

“We had quite a few toddlers being pushed around the course in prams by their parents and festively dressed dogs running the event too, as well as members of the public and shop workers cheering everyone on.”

“We’d like to thank Tony from The Wine Shop for providing the wine, ham and cheese, Bassadone for providing all runners with the wine glasses and the Gibraltar Sea Scouts Pipe Band for giving up their evening to play festive music whilst we were all running."

“But most importantly, we’d like to thank all the runners and those who helped us out on the night to raise this fantastic amount of money. We hope you all enjoyed yourselves.”

The Santa Dash started out in December 2020 after a handful of Carpe Diem runners ran their usual weekly run in Santa outfits.

In December 2021, the club organised its first official Santa Dash and invited members of the public to join them, which saw around 50 runners sign up, and the numbers have continued to grow each year.