Pram race raises thousands for hospice

All teams chose a fancy dress theme for the two-mile race

A fancy dress pram race has raised thousands for charity, with more than 100 people racing in homemade carts.

The annual Ackworth PramFest saw 20 teams push adults in prams for two miles around the town to raise money for the Prince of Wales Hospice in Pontefract.

Organiser Steve Brown said the event was won by the Cool Runnings team, who dressed as the Jamaican bobsleigh team from the film of the same name.

The race started at Carr Bridge and ended at Ackworth Cricket Club where more than 3,000 people celebrated with stalls, games, rides and live music.

Over the course of the race each team stopped for a drink in five pubs: Ego, Masons, Angel, Village Club and the Boot and Shoe.

Mr Brown said some teams had been taking the preparation ahead of the big day more seriously than others.

"There's certain teams that really do want to win," he said.

"We've even had teams that actually go out running on a night to a pub and they'll drink two pints, run to another pub, drink two pints, and just build up the stamina for the day."

Among the costumes on show were Nintendo video game characters Mario, Luigi and Wario as well as dogs, farmers and school girls.

Mr Brown said: "The most spectacular one we've ever had was a coffin, so somebody actually worked at a funeral directors and there was a spare coffin so they dressed somebody up as a corpse and pushed them around."

The event began in 1972 to raise money for the four children of labourer Frederick Nicholls, after his death aged 44.

The inaugural race raised £115 for the four children and the annual tradition was born.

Despite dropping away in the 1980s, the race was reinstated in 2015 and has grown in popularity since.

It raised £20,000 last year, bringing the total raised in the past 10 years to more than £120,000.

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