Hundreds of runners expected at Christmas Day parkruns in Shrewsbury, Telford and around Shropshire

The festive 5k events, bound to be popular again this year, traditionally feature several athletes wearing Christmas outfits and Santa hats.

Last year, hundreds flocked to Shrewsbury's Quarry, and in a display of the true magic of Christmas the course record was broken not once, but twice.

In total, 674 runners turned up to push prams, wear festive fancy dress, and help each other run, jog, walk and hobble over the undulating course, and even dogs were there in their red and white festive colours.

Christmas Day parkruns are due to take place at Shrewsbury, Telford, Alderford Lake and the Severn Valley Country Park - all starting at 9am.

It will be an extra-special celebration for Telford's event too - Christmas Day 2024 will mark Telford's 500th parkrun.

After a record-breaking run last year, Shrewsbury parkrun event director Adrian Cooper is looking forward to another big crowd.

"I am really looking forward to it.

"The atmosphere is always really good. There will be people dressed up and we will probably get between 600 and 700 people running.

"There will also be more 40 volunteers at the run.

"A lot of people do it to get together and do something they really enjoy doing.

"Being so early in the day, a lot of people can do it and then go off and enjoy their day."

Adrian added on the prospect of another record-breaking Christmas Day run: "It's possible, you never know. We weren't expecting the course record to be broken last year and it has been a couple of times this year since.

"We could have some record numbers this year, so we could go above and beyond, but we will see.

"I remember the first year I did a Christmas Day parkrun, I thought it would be quiet, but there were hundreds. Anything is possible tomorrow."