Chasewater Christmas Pudding Dash Trail

Race Description

Chasewater's reservoir has an industrial past that belies its present life as a country park: built in the 1770s as a canal feeder to supply the Wyrley and Essington Canal, it once served the collieries that powered the local iron industry, and the heritage railway that still circles part of the site is a direct descendant of that mining history. None of that history is visible on race day, though; the Christmas Pudding Dash is a purely festive affair, with 10K runners completing two laps and 5K runners one lap of the largely flat, gently undulating paths around the water, many in costume as their favourite festive character. Held in December, it's become a popular way for local runners to bookend the year: a genuinely sociable, low-pressure race rather than a serious time trial, with a best-dressed prize alongside the usual trophies for the fastest finishers.

The mostly flat, well-surfaced trail makes it accessible to a wide range of abilities, and the reservoir setting, with views across the water and the old railway running alongside, gives it more visual interest than a typical park Christmas run. It suits families and clubs looking for a fun festive outing as much as runners chasing a fast winter time, and the combination of costumes, a junior race and genuinely pretty surroundings has made it one of the better-loved Christmas fixtures in the Midlands running calendar.