Thousands will be raised for charity this weekend, as South Yorkshire’s most popular 10k run returns.

The Christmas themed ‘Percy Pud 10km’ run was set up by the running club, Steel City Striders in 1993 and occurs on the first Sunday in December.

The 30th edition of the Christmas themed fundraiser was due to take place last year, but was cancelled due to bad weather. It will now take place this Sunday.

Katy Scott, Sheffield, ran her first Percy Pud in 2022 whilst dressed as a Christmas Pudding and will be taking part in this year’s race in the same costume to raise money for The Lucy Faithfull Foundation which work to prevent child sexual abuse.

She said: “I feel quite lucky that I picked the Percy Pud for my first 10k. I remember just running along and to my left was a Santa and on my right were matching elves.

“There was music, chariots of fire and Christmas tunes blaring out from the pubs as we passed, and I was just carried along on this big happy cloud.”

As well as prizes for the top finishers in five age categories, every participant wins a Christmas pudding, inspired by a pre-war local runner named Percy who attributed winning his first race on Boxing Day to eating a whole Christmas pudding the day before.

The race starts and finishes on Loxley Road and takes participants around the outskirts of northwest Sheffield.

So far Katy has raised £1300 out of her £2000 goal for The Lucy Faithfull Foundation, which protects children and supports individuals and families who have been affected by abuse.

She said: “The charity means a huge amount to me, and I am very proud to be raising money for and to be talking openly about this cause.

“Had I been more aware about child sexual abuse, 30 years ago, when my two children were young, perhaps I could have prevented my own daughter from being sexually abused for four years as a child from someone within our own family. Or at least I could have recognised it was happening and stopped it.”

The Lucy Faithfull Foundation also offers help and advice for parents and carers and supporting individuals and families who have been affected by the abuse.

They work with Stop it Now who have an anonymous helpline for anyone with concerns about child sexual abuse.

Katy said: “I find other charities, perhaps ones that make us feel less uncomfortable, seem to get a lot more public airtime. People are just very uncomfortable talking about child sexual abuse. For me, to prevent child sexual abuse, we need to start talking about preventing it.”

Katy and her daughter, who is now an adult, are now openly comfortable talking about this and on Sunday, Katy will be running alongside her daughter and sister who she describes as her “main cheerleaders.”

You can donate to Katy’s fundraiser via the link: https://donate.giveasyoulive.com/fundraising/katys-first-10k-race