Santa Dash: Training Update #1

It's mere days until our TRO Santa Dashers set off at the starting line, running to raise funds for very important work with looked-after children. All twelve are training hard in preparation - and of course, there's an added competitive element to proceedings as it's Reds vs. Blues. Who will emerge victorious? We'll have to wait and see - but rest assured, everyone is feeling the burn.

Here's a training diary from Mike, member of the Blue half of the Santas:

‘Cut me open and I bleed Liverpool red’ – so said Steven Gerrard when pledging his allegiance to his boyhood club; as we’ll see on Sunday, however, there are two colours in Liverpool vying for supremacy, and I’ll be representing the blue half of town when I run in this year’s Santa Dash. As a Man United supporter running in Liverpool, I felt duty-bound to wear the lesser-known blue Santa outfit in order to show solidarity with the Evertonian side of the city, and I’ve been in intensive training to prepare myself for the big day.

Mike limbers up for training (not in a blue suit...)

Preparation started in earnest when I bought some new trainers a couple of weeks ago, and since then I’ve been pounding the tarmac of the Blackpool suburbs in order to achieve peak physical fitness. I even dug out an old Santa outfit in order to acclimatise myself to the conditions I’ll be facing on race day, which I hope will give me a decisive advantage as the finish line approaches. (I’m only wearing a red one for training purposes - I’ll be in blue on the day!)

There might not be many mince pies left in Liverpool since Andy Carroll moved down from Newcastle, but we’ll be hungry for victory in what promises to be a keenly contested derby. As Steven Gerrard might say, we’ll be taking it one step at a time and giving it 110 per cent, and, y’know, hopefully getting a result at the end of the day.

Hopefully this isn't a picture of things to come...

Apart from demonstrating the superiority of teams in blue, what we really want to achieve is to raise money for our work with looked-after children and young people. All donations will go towards an adventure holiday in the Lake District for the young people in care who we read with, and a mystery day out after Christmas. If you’d like to contribute to this good cause and help our valuable work with children, then please visit our fundraising page here. Thanks!

Everything you can give will really help support looked-after children.