Despite the forecast of inclement weather over 138 intrepid Santas donned the bright red suits and white beards to jog, stroll or run around Narberth Town Centre.
First across the finish line in a time of 8.5 minutes was Josh Barnett from St Clears.
The Narberth & Whitland Rotary organised the third bi-annual event in aid of the Narberth Foodbank.
Young and old gathered at 10.30am on Sunday 10th to register their event number and collect their costumes having pre-paid online using the website www.nwrotary.org . Photos of the gathering are included with this report and there will be more on the Rotary website and Facebook post-event. The photographs were taken by PowerPix aka Rotarian Mary Adams who, this year, is Rotary District Governor in charge of 57 clubs throughout South Wales.
Organiser Rotarian Ken Morgan was delighted with the 138 Entrants at this years event. Next year it will be in Whitland where it is hoped that the 150 figure would be achieved.
Prior to the start at 11.30 the entrants assembled in the RFC Car Park for a few light-hearted “warm up exercises” led by the Narberth detachment of Army Cadets and staff. President Phil Thompson thanked the cadets and all the participants for turning up despite the damp weather and explained the money would be used to aid the Narberth Food bank. He also thanked the members of Narberth & Whitland Round Table for loaning their Santa Sleigh.
The Sleigh had been delivered to the RFC early Sunday morning but it was empty. By the time the runners and strollers returned after their 3K jaunt they were amazed to discover that the Rotarians had managed to get the Sleigh lights switched and the REAL SANTA was sitting in it with buckets of sweets ready to give out to the children. This year the event has very kindly been sponsored by local stores Cost Cutter, Blakemore’s Spar and CK’s Supermarket who donated these goodies.
Adults were fortified with a glass of warm mulled wine and mince pies very kindly donated by Castell Howell which has been a family run business for 35 years specialising in quality Welsh produce. For the past 4 years they have supported Narberth & Whitland for each of their Santa Charity Runs to support the local food banks.
On the day before the run Rotarian Nigel Towns helped the organiser to erect directional signs of black arrows on a bright yellow background to aid the runners along the route and alongside the roads some signs also warned motorists to be aware of the pedestrians.
During the run the Cadets and some Rotarians stood guard at 8 street locations to ensure that Motorists did not endanger the participants needing to cross the highway. The Cadets then returned to the RFC to form a guard of Honour and present medals to all those who competed the course.
Narberth Foodbank is open on Wednesdays for people who may need assistance in these difficult times. Narberth and Whitland Rotary are delighted to be able to help with this donations so extra food can be purchased over the Christmas period.
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