{"id":75225,"date":"2025-12-05T16:32:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T16:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\/?p=75225"},"modified":"2025-12-05T16:32:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T16:32:12","slug":"the-start-of-christmas-sheffields-percy-pud-race-returns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\/index.php\/2025\/12\/05\/the-start-of-christmas-sheffields-percy-pud-race-returns\/","title":{"rendered":"“The Start of Christmas”: Sheffield’s Percy Pud Race Returns"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Over 3,000 runners are expecting to win a Christmas pudding at the finish line of the Percy Pud 10k<\/a> this Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since their first event in 1993, attended by 600 people, Sheffield City Striders Running Club<\/a> have had to cap the number of runners to about 3,000 – a limit exceeded as soon as spots became available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among those hoping to receive their Christmas pudding at the finish line on Loxley Road is Polly Rippon, 51, who started running the Percy Pud 20 years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said: “Although the weather is a bit dicey, it’s a really popular event with lots of local runners and local people taking part.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Ellen Beardmore (left) and Polly Rippon (right) after racing the Percy Pud (Source: Ellen Beardmore)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Also taking part is Laura Blackwell, 41. She will be running with her father, who has previously raised money for Sheffield Hospitals Charity<\/a>, a cause close to his heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms Blackwell said that the event has a “great community feel,” attracting runners of all abilities, and, although the forecast predicts rain on Sunday, “the atmosphere makes up for it.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both runners see the annual event as the official start of Christmas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The race thrives on the help of volunteers like Abi Langton, 22, who is helping for the first time this year by handing Christmas puddings out on the finishing line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said: “It feels like a special badge of honour to be helping out at such a well-renowned event. In Sheffield there’s such a big running community – I’m looking forward to seeing everyone finish their race.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Volunteers are expecting around 100 finishers per minute at the peak of the race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Its definitely going to be a hectic day and is going to require a smooth running team to get everyone through,” said Ms Langton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms Blackwell said that the course is “a little challenging, but if you pace it well it has PB potential and that’s definitely a draw!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Percy Pud course (Source: Steel City Striders Running Club)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But the biggest draw, of course, is the Christmas pudding at the end.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over 3,000 runners are expecting to win a Christmas pudding at the finish line of the Percy Pud 10k this Sunday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":270,"featured_media":75830,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n"The Start of Christmas": Sheffield's Percy Pud Race Returns - Sheffield Wire<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\/index.php\/2025\/12\/05\/the-start-of-christmas-sheffields-percy-pud-race-returns\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""The Start of Christmas": Sheffield's Percy Pud Race Returns - Sheffield Wire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Over 3,000 runners are expecting to win a Christmas pudding at the finish line of the Percy Pud 10k this Sunday.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\/index.php\/2025\/12\/05\/the-start-of-christmas-sheffields-percy-pud-race-returns\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sheffield Wire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-05T16:32:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-05T16:32:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/percy-pud-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"360\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Alice Wiseman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Alice Wiseman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/05\\\/the-start-of-christmas-sheffields-percy-pud-race-returns\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/05\\\/the-start-of-christmas-sheffields-percy-pud-race-returns\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Alice Wiseman\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5ee0cc338ebe8193614e89939d197660\"},\"headline\":\"“The Start of Christmas”: Sheffield’s Percy Pud Race Returns\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-05T16:32:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-05T16:32:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/05\\\/the-start-of-christmas-sheffields-percy-pud-race-returns\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":352,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/05\\\/the-start-of-christmas-sheffields-percy-pud-race-returns\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/percy-pud-1.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\",\"Uncategorized\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/05\\\/the-start-of-christmas-sheffields-percy-pud-race-returns\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/05\\\/the-start-of-christmas-sheffields-percy-pud-race-returns\\\/\",\"name\":\"\\\"The Start of Christmas\\\": Sheffield's Percy Pud Race Returns - Sheffield Wire\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/05\\\/the-start-of-christmas-sheffields-percy-pud-race-returns\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/05\\\/the-start-of-christmas-sheffields-percy-pud-race-returns\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/percy-pud-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-05T16:32:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-05T16:32:12+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5ee0cc338ebe8193614e89939d197660\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/05\\\/the-start-of-christmas-sheffields-percy-pud-race-returns\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/05\\\/the-start-of-christmas-sheffields-percy-pud-race-returns\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/05\\\/the-start-of-christmas-sheffields-percy-pud-race-returns\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/percy-pud-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/percy-pud-1.jpg\",\"width\":640,\"height\":360},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/05\\\/the-start-of-christmas-sheffields-percy-pud-race-returns\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"“The Start of Christmas”: Sheffield’s Percy Pud Race Returns\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\\\/\",\"name\":\"Sheffield Wire\",\"description\":\"The latest news from South Yorkshire\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5ee0cc338ebe8193614e89939d197660\",\"name\":\"Alice Wiseman\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/927deaeb3e4acddf642e90be526db0d9574c2009ed611819ca456d9b6b4dc76f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/927deaeb3e4acddf642e90be526db0d9574c2009ed611819ca456d9b6b4dc76f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/927deaeb3e4acddf642e90be526db0d9574c2009ed611819ca456d9b6b4dc76f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Alice Wiseman\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\\\/index.php\\\/author\\\/ijp25aw\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\"The Start of Christmas\": Sheffield's Percy Pud Race Returns - Sheffield Wire","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\/index.php\/2025\/12\/05\/the-start-of-christmas-sheffields-percy-pud-race-returns\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"\"The Start of Christmas\": Sheffield's Percy Pud Race Returns - Sheffield Wire","og_description":"Over 3,000 runners are expecting to win a Christmas pudding at the finish line of the Percy Pud 10k this Sunday.","og_url":"https:\/\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\/index.php\/2025\/12\/05\/the-start-of-christmas-sheffields-percy-pud-race-returns\/","og_site_name":"Sheffield Wire","article_published_time":"2025-12-05T16:32:10+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-12-05T16:32:12+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":360,"url":"https:\/\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/percy-pud-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Alice Wiseman","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Alice Wiseman","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\/index.php\/2025\/12\/05\/the-start-of-christmas-sheffields-percy-pud-race-returns\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\/index.php\/2025\/12\/05\/the-start-of-christmas-sheffields-percy-pud-race-returns\/"},"author":{"name":"Alice Wiseman","@id":"https:\/\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/5ee0cc338ebe8193614e89939d197660"},"headline":"“The Start of Christmas”: Sheffield’s Percy Pud Race Returns","datePublished":"2025-12-05T16:32:10+00:00","dateModified":"2025-12-05T16:32:12+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\/index.php\/2025\/12\/05\/the-start-of-christmas-sheffields-percy-pud-race-returns\/"},"wordCount":352,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\/index.php\/2025\/12\/05\/the-start-of-christmas-sheffields-percy-pud-race-returns\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/percy-pud-1.jpg","articleSection":["News","Uncategorized"],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\/index.php\/2025\/12\/05\/the-start-of-christmas-sheffields-percy-pud-race-returns\/","url":"https:\/\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\/index.php\/2025\/12\/05\/the-start-of-christmas-sheffields-percy-pud-race-returns\/","name":"\"The Start of Christmas\": Sheffield's Percy Pud Race Returns - Sheffield Wire","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\/index.php\/2025\/12\/05\/the-start-of-christmas-sheffields-percy-pud-race-returns\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\/index.php\/2025\/12\/05\/the-start-of-christmas-sheffields-percy-pud-race-returns\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/percy-pud-1.jpg","datePublished":"2025-12-05T16:32:10+00:00","dateModified":"2025-12-05T16:32:12+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/5ee0cc338ebe8193614e89939d197660"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\/index.php\/2025\/12\/05\/the-start-of-christmas-sheffields-percy-pud-race-returns\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\/index.php\/2025\/12\/05\/the-start-of-christmas-sheffields-percy-pud-race-returns\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\/index.php\/2025\/12\/05\/the-start-of-christmas-sheffields-percy-pud-race-returns\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/percy-pud-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/percy-pud-1.jpg","width":640,"height":360},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\/index.php\/2025\/12\/05\/the-start-of-christmas-sheffields-percy-pud-race-returns\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"“The Start of Christmas”: Sheffield’s Percy Pud Race Returns"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\/","name":"Sheffield Wire","description":"The latest news from South Yorkshire","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/5ee0cc338ebe8193614e89939d197660","name":"Alice Wiseman","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/927deaeb3e4acddf642e90be526db0d9574c2009ed611819ca456d9b6b4dc76f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/927deaeb3e4acddf642e90be526db0d9574c2009ed611819ca456d9b6b4dc76f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/927deaeb3e4acddf642e90be526db0d9574c2009ed611819ca456d9b6b4dc76f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Alice Wiseman"},"url":"https:\/\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\/index.php\/author\/ijp25aw\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/270"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75225"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75225\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75898,"href":"https:\/\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75225\/revisions\/75898"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}