A YEAR of fundraising for Royal Wootton Bassett Mayor Linda Frost drew to a close with a charity run at Ballard’s Ash sports ground yesterday.

The town councillor’s term as mayor comes to an end in May, following 12 months of raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support, her chosen charity in line with the tradition set by previous mayors.

The Mayor’s Charity 5km Run and Children’s Fun Run kicked off at 10am on the sports pitches at the facility, which is run by Royal Wootton Bassett Rugby Club.

With children paying £2 for the fun run on the day, the bulk of the money raised is likely to come from the adults’ 5k run, where an entrance fee of £10 was charged.

With approximately 70 adults and 40 children running, Coun Frost hoped the final figure for the day would hit £1,000 and take her year’s total up to £4,000.

This was the first time in three years that the 5km run had been held.

Coun Frost was keen to bring an event back to life, include people of all ages.

“Different mayors do different things. This was my choice to do a family event instead of a charity ball, which many of my predecessors have done,” she said.

“Everybody can be involved in something like this.

“Everybody seems to be enjoying it. I incorporated the fun run this year too because my theme for the whole year has been children.

“I had children performing at my civic service and I wanted them to be part of this too.

“Ticket sales will provide the main income, but we have also been selling raffle tickets and refreshments.

“We have had businesses sponsoring us too. We have used water donated by Sainsbury’s, the cost of medals has been covered, plus the rugby club let us use the sports facility free of charge.”

Coun Frost said she had chosen Macmillan as her charity for the year because of the work it does to support cancer sufferers and their carers, who often need support too.

Royal Wootton Bassett Hounds were responsible for yesterday’s event. Coun Frost said it would not have happened without the help of the town’s running club.

Running under glorious sunshine, the first participant across the line was 21-year-old Michael Dumville, a warehouse worker of Templar’s Firs, in just over 21 minutes.

Michael said he decided to take part after he training to keep his mother motivated in her own running.

“My mum wanted to take up running and I ended up doing a training programme with her,” said Michael, who trains as a kickboxer at Swindon Martial Arts and Fitness.