Santas on the Run! is taking place in three seaside towns on three consecutive weekends. This means you can take part in one, two or challenge yourself to all three and join our Santas on the Run! Tri-Series.

Santas on the Run! will be taking place in and on:

• Santas on the Bay! in Herne Bay on Sunday 27 November - Herne Bay Clock Tower, CT6 5JQ
• Santas on the Harbour! in Folkestone on Sunday 4 December - Harbour Arm, CT20 1QQ
• Santas on the Seashore! in Margate on Sunday 11 December - Fort Crescent, CT9 1HX

Registration will open at 9:30am at all fun runs; please do not arrive before this time. 

Santas suits cannot be guaranteed for one the day entries.

Family tickets inc. 2 adults and 2 children under 18.

Early bird entry (closes 09/10/22)

Per event

• Adults - £12        Under 18 - £8        Family - £35

Tri-series

• Adults - £30        Under 18 - £18        Family - £90

Advanced entry 

Per event

• Adults - £16        Under 18 - £10        Family - £45

Tri-series

• Adults - £42        Under 18 - £24        Family - £105

On the day

Per event

• Adults - £20        Under 18 - £10        No family ticket available

Tri-series

• Adults - £54        Under 18 - £24        Only available at Herne Bay and no family ticket available

Each person that signs up gets either a 5-piece Santa suit or a 5-piece Elf suit included in their entry fee. The Santa suit includes: a jacket, trousers, beard, hat and belt, while the Elf suit includes: a top, trousers, shoes and hat. 

If you've signed up to the tri-series, you will get 2 Santa suits and 1 Elf suit. However, if your suit is still in condition after the run, please do reuse your suit to help our event be more environmentally friendly.

Every entry to Santas on the Run! includes a 5-piece Santa or Elf suit, helping you to look the part on the day! 

To help you prepare for your festive fun run, we have festive suit collection dates available to help you turn up on the day suited and booted.

The dates and locations for the festive suit collections will be shared in due course. 

We kindly ask that you attend the Santa Suit collection for the Santas on the Run! event that you are registered for.

Those registered for the tri-series can collect their festive suits from any of the three collection venues. 

If you have questions regarding the festive suit collection dates please email us at FestiveRun@pilgrimshospices.org

We're excited for our popular Santas on the Run! Tri-Series to return to three locations in east Kent; Herne Bay, Folkestone and Margate. We've organised our festive fun runs to take place on three consecutive weekends so that you can enter all three, making up the tri-series!

By taking part in the tri-series you will get a fresh festive suit for each fun run, 3 Santa on the Run! medals, 3 different seaside fun runs and a Christmas card to collect your Santas on the Run! stamps at each event to receive your special tri-series present medal. 

Take on our Christmas challenge!

A portion of your entry fee goes towards running the event and making sure that you have an enjoyable and safe experience. We’d love you to raise sponsorship for your challenge but its not essential. If you'd rather not ask your friends and family to sponsor you, we hope you might consider making a personal donation towards the care we provide. This can be done during the online registration process or at any time on our website, at our hospices in Ashford, Canterbury or Margate, or on the day of the event.

It costs Pilgrims Hospices £14 million a year to provide skilled and compassionate care to our community, and events like Santas on the Run! help us to continue caring for local people as they near end of life. Please download a sponsorship form, or join our fundraising campaign page on JustGiving if you'd like to raise sponsorship with your festive fun run! 

This Christmas your fundraising could pay for:

• £1 could pay for a patient to enjoy a mince pie and custard in the run up to Christmas
• £12 could pay for a patient's Christmas dinner
• £20 could pay for a physiotherapy session to help patients stay active and enjoy festive games with their family on Christmas day
• £50 could pay for a Christmas tree to decorate our hospice family rooms
• £100 could pay for a therapy session for a child coping with the loss of a loved one over the festive season

Don’t forget to encourage your sponsors to tick the Gift Aid box if they’re eligible to do so; for every £1 donated we’ll be able to claim an extra 25p from the Government at no cost to you or your sponsors. It makes a huge difference.

All 3 of our festive fun runs will have the same timing schedules:

• Registration will open at 9:30am. All Santas who have signed up in advance will need to sign in on the day with our registration volunteers using our touch-free check-in process so that we know you're on the event. You will collect your Santa suit at registration if you haven't done so already. Please do not arrive before this time as our Santas won't have finished setting up. 
• If you haven't registered in advance you will need to head to 'on the day' registration to sign up with our volunteer elves.  Please note that each event has a maximum capacity and if capacity is reached before the event on the day entry will not be available, we will make this update on our website in advance of the event. Santa suits cannot be guaranteed for on the day entries.
• All registration desks will close at 10:40am to enable everyone to take part in the warm-up. 
• The warm-up will begin at 10:45am.
• Your fun run will begin at 11:00am 

Our three festive fun runs will be generously supported by members of our local community who will be volunteering their time to marshal the route. They will be on hand to guide you and cheer you along the route. 

When out on the route please keep an eye out for signs to direct you to turn off for the 3k route or to continue for the 5k route. 

You can also view route maps on our website or from your smart phone with the new Pilgrims Hospices Event App closer to the event, available for on the App Store for Apple devices and Google Play for Android.

Each route has been designed to create a fun run for the whole family, but there may be parts of the route where wheelchairs and buggies will struggle. If you have a query please contact us on FestiveRun@pilgrimshospices.org and we can provide more details on the routes. 

Santas on the Run! is about bringing family and friends together in the run up to Christmas; you can jog, walk or skip your way around the route, so gather your friends, family, colleagues or neighbours to enjoy the magic of Christmas. 

Each route has been designed to create a fun run for the whole family, but there may be parts of the route where wheelchairs and buggies will struggle. If you have a query please contact us on FestiveRun@pilgrimshospices.org and we can provide more details on the routes. 

All of our routes will be fully marshalled and we will have a medical support team in attendance on the day. If you have a problem whilst out on the route please either: 

• Tell your nearest marshal who will contact the organiser of the event who will send out our medical support team to you.
• If there's a medical emergency please call 999, before notifying your nearest marshal.

If you have any health concerns please consult your GP before taking part. It's recommended that you're able to ride at least 75% of the course distance comfortably beforehand. The emergency services are aware that the event is taking place. 

Each of our festive fun runs will have a water station at the finish line. 

We ask that you bring a refillable water bottle with you on the day as this will reduce the amount of plastic being used, thank you. 

Unfortunately, dogs won't be able to join you at Santas on the Run! This is as we can't cater for them along the fun run and it can be difficult to manage dogs on the route, especially during busier or more crowded sections of the route. However, we do think dogs make for great training companions! 

Santas on the Run! is all about bringing family and friends together to celebrate the festive season, we would therefore love for your friends and family to come along to support you and cheer you across the finish line. 

Children of any age can take part in Santas on the Run! but we do ask that those under the age of 18 are accompanied by an adult at all time whilst out on the route.

You can download a parental consent form below for your fun run. 

Santas on the Bay! in Herne Bay - Parental consent form

Santas on the Harbour! in Folkestone - Parental consent form 

Santas on the Seashore! in Margate - Parental consent form 

Parental consent forms will also be available at registration desks on the day. 

Getting to Santas on the Bay! in Herne Bay 

Santas on the Bay! is taking place in a central location of Herne Bay so that it is accessible to all. There is street parking located close to the event venue as well as pay and display car parks. Please be aware that there will be a road closure on Central Parade for the duration of the event, therefore parking on this road will be limited. If you are travelling via public transport, there are multiple bus stops along Herne Bay High Street which is a 5 minute walk from the venue. Alternatively, Herne Bay train station is a 25 minute walk from the venue. 

Car park examples:

• Beach Street car park - Beach Street, CT6 5PL
• Market Street car park - Market Street, CT6 5PP

Getting to Santas on the Harbour! in Folkestone

Santas on the Harbour! is taking place in a central location of Folkestone on the Harbour so that it is accessible to all. There is street parking located close to the event as a range of pay and display car parks. If you are travelling via public transport, there are multiple bus stops within Folkestone centre which are a short walk from our venue. Alternatively, Folkestone Central train station is a 25 minute walk from the venue.

Car park examples: 

• Harbour Arm car park - Harbour Approach Rd,  CT20 1QH
• Tram Road car park - Tram Road, CT20 1QN

Getting to Santa on the Seashore! in Margate

Santas on the Seashore! is taking place in a central location of Fort Crescent, Margate so that it is accessible to all. There is street parking located close to the event venue as well as a range of pay and display car parks. If you're travelling via public transport, there are multiple bus stops a short walk from our venue. Alternatively, Margate train station is a 20 minute walk from the venue.

Car park examples:

• Trinity Square car park - Trinity Square, CT9 1HR

Please collect and send in your sponsorship by 01 February 2023 so we can announce the grand total raised by Santas on the Run! and thank you for all of your fundraising efforts.

You can either hand in your sponsorship at your nearest Pilgrims hospice or send sponsorship to:

• Supporter Relations, Pilgrims Hospices, 56 London Road, Canterbury, Kent CT2 8JA.

If you have fundraised via JustGiving or have donated via the Pilgrims Hospices website there is nothing extra you need to do. The money you've raised will come directly to Pilgrims automatically. 

Please note: If you have raised sponsorship purely online via a JustGiving page, we will send you an official thank you letter for your total after the above hand-in-date.