The town’s army of decorated frogs have been given a special role at this year’s BIG Stockport Run.
The colourful amphibians, which have been living on the streets of Stockport for the past two months, will form the trail for the ‘Frog Dash’, a charity treasure trail organised for families.
The dash will take place on Sunday, September 15, alongside the BIG Stockport Run, which starts and finishes in St Petersgate in the town centre.
Children of all ages are encouraged to dress up as a frog and follow a map around the giant decorated frogs, which were put in place as part of The Giant Leap Frog Art Trial, organised by Totally Stockport to engage visitors in the town centre.
Totally Stockport’s BID Manager Paul Taylor, who has led on the Giant Leap project, said: “Stockport’s Giant Leap Frog Art Trail has been an amazing success.
“It’s created a massive buzz and, since we launched the art trail of 19 giant frogs sponsored by local businesses, the number of visitors to the town centre has increased by over 20%.
“Stockport’s 10k and family fun run always attracts huge crowds and we are delighted to be partnering with the team at Life Leisure to bring you the frog dash.
“This will be a family fun event with the frog dash following the trail around some of the frogs and the first three winners will be presented with a gold, silver and bronze miniature frog.”
Laura Mylotte, Head of Marketing from Life Leisure, which runs the annual event, said: “We are really excited to partner with Totally Stockport for this year’s event. It’s great to be able to add another event for families in our ever changing town centre.
“Children and families will need to follow a treasure map to find out which frog they need to head to next – so it will take brains as well as brawn! It’s suitable for all ages and it would be great to see children dressing up as frogs for the occasion”.
The frogs will be hopping off at the end of September, so event organisers hope the event will also be a great opportunity for people who haven’t had chance to visit them yet.
Money raised from the event will go to Stockport homeless charity The Wellspring.
Entry is £5 and includes entry into the Big Stockport Family Fun Run (which kicks off at 10.15am) and the Frog Dash (which starts at 11.30am).
To enter, for more information about the event, or for details regarding the Big Stockport Run, go to www.lifeleisure.net/sports-development-events/big-stockport-event-series or follow @BIGEventSeries on Twitter.
