Were you at Thatcham's Christmas Santa fun run in The Broadway?

More than 100 people lined up in The Broadway in Santa hats and running boots this weekend but can you spot anyone you know?

“We did the countdown and we sent them off,” said Thatcham mayor John Boyd as the jolly red boys and girls got ready and set.

Red costumes, in all shapes and sizes, as far as the eye could see then jetted off through the town for the 5km festive fun run at around 11am on Sunday morning (December 5).

Thatcham Rotarian Tim Dyson said: “It’s good that we could do it this year.

“It’s a part of Thatcham’s fun weekend, it’s all good support.”

Christmas music filled the air while people waited for the first runners to come back to base.

Thatcham Rotary president Steve Walker said that around 110 people took part in the run.

He added: “It was lovely to be out, it was a cold day but we got people out. It went really well.

“Some families do it just for the hell of it."

He added that it was nice to see the “really little ones” taking part, for which there were route shortcuts put in place.

There was also an opportunity for runners to raise money for individual causes that they wish to support.

Participants who notified the team of how much they raised, would have their entry fee added to the charity funds.

This is something that Rotarian Bob Champion had said was to “help” small charities who have “had a hard time” due to fundraising events not being able to take place in the recent past.

In 2019 around 160 runners took on the challenge and Mr Walker is optimistic that they will be achieving similar numbers again in no time.

Councillor Mike Cole (Lib Dem, Thatcham North East) said: “Everyone enjoyed themselves; it’s a fun community event which was the reason we had it on."

Mr Cole noted that coronavirus measures were taken into consideration and all participants were “spaced out as far as they could be” in order to keep safety a top priority.

The shortcuts and numerous routes meant that all people, young and old, could take part.

“That’s the beauty of it, you can do it on the road, you can do it on the muddy lane down to the lakes," he said.

It wasn’t just people though, the weekend even saw our four legged friends give it a go.

Mr Cole added: “We had one little dog who was number 275 and a quarter.

“It’s the type of thing the English do very well. It put a smile on people’s faces."