Everyone can join in the fun this year! KPMG’s annual charity Promenade Relay, which takes place on Friday 24 June, is open to children and individual runners for the first time in 2016 as well as corporate and non-corporate teams.

The highly popular event is being run by KPMG in support of Wish Upon a Dream, an Isle of Man registered charity that grants wishes to sick and terminally ill children living on the Island.

Suitable for both serious athletes and fun runners, the relay will kick off with the children’s races at 5.30pm. These are free to enter and will be untimed. Under 5s will run a 100m course, Under 10s 300m and Under 14s 600m.

This will be followed at 6.30pm by the adult races with solo participants covering a 5km course and teams completing 10km. The relay teams will be using special timing batons and all adult individual runners will carry timing chips which will attach to their shoes.

As well as the kudos of winning, there will be prizes for the winners of various categories. Previous years have seen teams enter as 80’s rock stars, chickens and Mexican wrestlers so there is always strong sense of fun to the event. All entry fees and any sponsorship raised by participants will be donated directly to the Wish Upon a Dream charity.

Paul Cawley, KPMG’s event coordinator said, “The KPMG Promenade Relay has become a fixture in many people’s calendars over the past three years and, given it is in support of Wish Upon a Dream in 2016, it seemed appropriate to open it up to younger people this year and we now also have category for individuals.

“Last year’s event was supported by more than 80 teams and raised over ?13,000, so we are hoping to build on that success this year. Wish Upon a Dream has been chosen by our staff as our 2016 corporate charity because of the incredible work they do in creating memorable events for seriously ill children on the Isle of Man, something that is truly special for all those concerned.”

Wish Upon a Dream was formed in 2007 by Lesley Turnbull in memory of her daughter and granted its first wish to a Manx child that same year. Says Lesley: “I never cease to be amazed by the bravery of the children I meet and it is an honour to make their dreams a reality wherever possible. I’m extremely grateful to the staff at KPMG for choosing us as their charity of the year. We are so grateful to them and to everyone taking part in this event, hopefully many wishes will be granted because of this annual run, my heartfelt thanks to everyone for taking part and supporting this fabulous event which certainly looks like it will be fun too”.

The Claremont is providing free cloakroom facilities for those taking part in the race and will also host a social get together after the event. The Claremont is one of a number of sponsors supporting the event and KPMG is also grateful for the help of Appleby, Barclays, Estera, Hansard, Mann Link Travel, Microgaming and Shoprite as well as media partners 3FM. Elegance Taxis will also be providing a shuttle bus service up and down the Promenade for the runners to use.

Entry to the relay is online only and closes at 7pm on Friday 17th June, although team participants may be changed up to 2pm on the day of the race.

For more information and to register for the KPMG Promenade Relay 2016, visit http://my2.raceresult.com/.  For queries about the event, please email events@kpmg.co.im. 

For more information on Wish Upon a Dream, visit www.wishuponadream.co.uk. 

Photo - taken at last year’s event.