WATCH: Garstang turned into a rainbow of runners during inaugural Colour Dash

Rain turned to sunshine in Garstang when the town's inaugural colour dash hit the streets this weekend.
The first Garstang Colour Dash took place on Sunday, April 22.The first Garstang Colour Dash took place on Sunday, April 22.
The first Garstang Colour Dash took place on Sunday, April 22.

The race was a sell-out with all 500 tickets being snapped up to raise money for St John’s Hospice in Lancaster – with £10,000 and counting being raised by the event’s runners.

Community fund-raiser at St John’s Karen Crossley said: “What an absolutely brilliant day. It was raining in the morning but thankfully it stopped around an hour before we started. People loved it.”

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She added: “We were a bit concerned about letting the people of Garstang down, but I think we turned up great.

The first Garstang Colour Dash took place on Sunday, April 22.The first Garstang Colour Dash took place on Sunday, April 22.
The first Garstang Colour Dash took place on Sunday, April 22.

“The scene in the town afterwards looked like a rainbow – it was lovely. It might be the start of something really great in the town.”

Firefighters were on scene to clean up the multicoloured streets after the race which kicked off at midday on Sunday.

“The hospice touches so many people’s lives,” Karen explained. “We wanted to do something for the whole family to have some fun at the same time because we help people of all ages. We support everyone and anyone who gets referred to us.”

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Karen explained how St John’s Hospice costs £12,000 a day to run, will all money raised through its fund-raising events being key to the day-to-day operations, which include home nursing and bereavement assistance.

The first Garstang Colour Dash took place on Sunday, April 22.The first Garstang Colour Dash took place on Sunday, April 22.
The first Garstang Colour Dash took place on Sunday, April 22.

The race follows the hospice taking control of the Garstang Clinical Nurse Specialist team from Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Community's support is vital

Organisers say they have been “overwhelmed” the support from the Garstang community.

Catherine Butterworth, Head of Income Generation at St John’s Hospice, said: “I have been overwhelmed at the amazing support the local community and businesses have shown to our first ever hospice event in Garstang.”

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There were four colour stations throughout the 5km course, manned by sponsors from Vincents Solicitors, Towers and Gornall, Garstang Country Hotel, Nationwide Building Society and Display Wizard.

A video of the event can be seen above, courtesy of Vincents Solicitors.

Lisa Lodge, head of Vincents Solicitors’ Garstang office said: “It was an absolutely fantastic event and everyone had so much fun. We were a little worried about rain in the morning but the sun came out for us in the end and it was really lovely.

“The whole Vincents team enjoyed the Colour Dash. Some of us were please to just get round, but there were some who did really well. Our MD Phillip Gilmore came eighth overall and his nephew came came second!

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“It was wonderful to see such a huge turnout of runners and people cheering them on, we saw lots of familiar faces on the starting line. I offered a cake as a prize to the local business which raised the most money, so please do get in touch if you think you’re in with a chance of winning.

“We’re so pleased for the Hospice and for Garstang that the event was such a huge success, and we’re already looking forward to next year."

The sponsors sent teams of employees to man the stations who pelted dashers with environmentally friendly paint powder as they ran through.

A spokesman from the run said that “the event wouldn’t have been made possible without the 60-plus volunteers who helped register, marshal and feed the dashers from the brilliant Bond’s of Elswick ice cream and The Striped Pig pulled meat stand”.