Active Leisure Events Ltd invites runners to stay active during the festive season and help a Lapland charity provide memorable trips for children with life-limiting conditions. Their Virtual Ho Ho Go! Challenge is a new event and the antidote to seasonal sloth and dark, winter days and is taking place throughout December and January. All profits go to the organisers’ race charity Northern Lights.

Instead of lying on the sofa eating Quality Street whilst binging on Netflix, set yourself a challenge that involves getting outside and moving around; then wear your well-earned bespoke Christmas medal as a reward. The difference between this and other virtual events is that you choose your activity, distance and duration and do it your way. 

Every participant receives a Santa or Elf hat which they wear during their activity - run, jog, walk, cycle or swim – and can add a Christmas jumper or fancy dress to go with this whilst remembering to take a selfie and share on social media. They can run 10K over several days, walk one mile a day over 12 days or cycle 26.2 miles but whatever they choose, the emphasis is on having fun and escaping the doom and gloom caused by the pandemic and the post-Christmas blues. 

Each year Northern Lights Children’s Charity takes 20 children with life-limiting illnesses on a trip to Lapland where they get to meet Santa and his reindeers and enjoy sleigh rides and snowmobiles. Sadly, the global pandemic has put a stop to that this year and the cancellation of events has meant they have missed out on vital fundraising. 

Ho Ho Go! is important on two levels: as Karen Jones MBE, Chair of Northern Lights says: “It is the ideal tonic for the winter months and 100% of the profits will go to the charity.”

More information about the virtual festive challenge and how to enter can be found online.

Image courtesy of Amanda Newall (Active Leisure Events Ltd)