Those that have been following my blog will know that my husband and I are always looking for new outdoor fun to have with our boys and this weekend we had the opportunity to try something new, The Claire House Splash Dash.
My eldest had seen pictures of the splash dash and had asked if we could do it so when the opportunity came up I thought it would be just perfect. We kept it a secret until the morning of the event and I wish I had captured the look on his face when we told him what we doing, he was so excited.
I have done a few fitness events over the years, my last one being the Manchester 10k, but never one that was open to children, so I wasn’t sure what to expect and was a bit apprehensive taking a 6 year old and a 3 year old.
When we arrived at the event I was surprised at how big and busy it was, with stalls, a stage and lots of staff ready to help out. I was relieved to see a number of small children and even prams and wheelchair users ready to get involved and instantly realised that any worries I had had about our tiddler being able to join in were unfounded. The Claire House Splash Dash is an event for everybody and really is as inclusive an event as it can get, which is just fantastic. I think this inclusion element really impacted on the atmosphere as unlike previous sporting events the atmosphere was relaxed, happy and exciting instead of nervous excitement, competitiveness and anxiousness.
The warm up was a series of clubercise routines which I thoroughly enjoyed, the big one had a go but the tiddler just froze solid and became a little overwhelmed at the sheer volume of people jumping around in close proximity.
We headed over to the start where you can run, jog, or walk. We went with the walkers but we mixed it up along the route having a little run here and there and the fact it wasn’t timed at all made it so much more fun.
As we had never done anything like this before we really didn’t know what to expect and as we approached the first paint station I think it’s fair to say all four of us were a bit apprehensive as we ran past people throwing powdered paint all over us. The big one loved it and was in his element but the tiddler cried and required a shoulder ride for some of the way, I guess it is strange at three to run through a cloud of colour and have people throw more at you!
Once we knew what to expect the big one and I decided to have a little fun so I held his feet as he did wheel barrows through the next two, resulting in lots of giggles and a head full of coloured paint, much to his amusement.
At the fourth and final colour station the tiddler had pulled up his bravery pants and wanted to join his brother crawling, running and rolling through the last one. It was an amazing site seeing them both having so much fun and best of all the rain that was coming down heavy all morning held off for the whole event.
I would highly recommend this event to everyone and anyone, if you are competitive you can run and time yourself, if you are a family then enjoy it together and laugh the whole way round high fiving coloured bears and avoiding or lapping up the fist fulls of powdered paint that comes flying your way.
Although this event was amazing and fun it is important to remember why it was on and that was to raise money for Claire house, a children’s hospice that works with families creating memories that last a life time. The work that Claire house does is priceless to those families that it touches but it can not run without the much needed funds that events like this raise.
A huge thank you to the team at Claire house for making this possible and for everyone who got involved or sponsored someone that did, your generosity will make a huge difference.