Shropshire Star

Shrewsbury Santa runners will be dashing to help Zac

Hundreds of runners, joggers and walkers will be dressing up as Santa in Shrewsbury to help raise money for poorly Zac Oliver.

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Santas line up for last year's Salop Santa Dash.

The Salop Santa Dash was held at Salop Leisure for the first time last year, and saw hundreds of runners taking on two laps of the 1.5-mile course around the Emstrey resort.

This year the event, which takes place on December 2, will cost £12, with a portion of the proceeds going to the Zac Oliver Appeal to help fund potentially life-saving treatment for the Broseley youngster, who has a rare strain of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

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Tom Meehan from Love Fitness, part of Salop Leisure, said this year's event is on target to attract about 500 runners.

"It's great to see whole families entering together and because they can choose to run either 2.5 or five kilometres at their own pace," he said. "It makes this the perfect event for people of all abilities to get active and have some fun together."

"The Salop Santa Dash is a great opportunity to take on a challenge with friends and family and to get into the festive mood."

Zac's father, Mark Garbett, added: "The response to the appeal has been absolutely amazing and it shows that when the chips are down, good people come forward to help.

"It's just amazing and overwhelming that so many different people from different areas have come together and want to help. The question we ask ourselves every day is what can we do to thank people for their support? Saying thank you just doesn't seem enough.

"At the end of the day, it's our son's life and he has been given the best chance of survival thanks to the wonderful people who are supporting the appeal."