Fun run celebrating new partnership will raise money for Strathcarron Hospice
STIRLING, 16th October 2026. As the festive season looms, Stirling Distillery is delighted to launch its second ever Santa Dash, now bigger and better than last year.
The race starts and finishes at the distillery on Lower Castlehill at 3pm on Sunday 6th December 2026. The route takes runners through some of Stirling's historic roads before bringing them back to the distillery door.
Entry is £10, with all proceeds going to Strathcarron Hospice. Every finisher can toast their run with a Stirling Winter Gin and ginger ale (soft drinks for under-18s and drivers) and takes home a medal that doubles as a Christmas bauble so it can go straight on the tree. The male and female race winners get to pick a bottle of gin from the distillery shop. Last year’s winners were Stirling local Jennifer Wetton from Central AC and John Redding from Linlithgow AC.
Festive costumes are encouraged for the run. Anyone without one can buy a Santa or elf suit from the Strathcarron team at the distillery for £5.
Strathcarron Hospice is an independent hospice providing all its services free of charge, offering specialist palliative and end of life care to people across Forth Valley, Cumbernauld and Kilsyth. That care depends on the support of local people, and every entry to the Santa Dash helps.
The event is supported by Stirling Running and Lumo trains, and the race will kick off the celebrations of the distillery's new partnership with Lumo. Once the last Santa is home, the party moves inside the distillery, with food, drinks and live music to mark the collaboration.
Lumo began running direct services between London Euston and Stirling on 25th May this year, so Santas from further afield have a direct train to the start line.
Mike Roberts, Partnerships Manager at Lumo, said: "Stirling Distillery is a proper family business. June and Cameron McCann started it in 2015, and their son Hugo now makes the whisky. Their gin and whisky are made a short walk from where our trains pull in, so pairing them with a route that brings people to Stirling made sense from the first conversation. I'll be in my Santa suit on the start line, and then I'll be welcoming everyone back to the distillery for a drink."
The race is open to anyone aged 5 and over, and children aged 5 to 11 must run with an adult. Entries are open now at https://www.entrycentral.com/event/131026 and close on 5th December or when the field is full. If you would like to volunteer rather than run, please email hello@stirlingdistillery.com.
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
About Stirling Distillery:
• Stirling Distillery was founded by June and Cameron McCann and is Scotland’s smallest whisky distillery.
• The Old Smiddy, 9 Lower Castlehill, Stirling FK8 1EN, dates from 1888 and has been a blacksmith’s forge, a church and a temperance hall.
• The distillery welcomes around 20,000 visitors a year and offers tours, tastings, whisky experiences and Gin School.
• It has received multiple Tripadvisor Travellers’ Choice Awards.
• More information: stirlingdistillery.com
About Lumo:
• Lumo is an open access rail operator, meaning it does not receive state funding and is focused on the customers and communities it serves.
• Lumo provides a greener alternative to domestic air travel, particularly on its fully-electric East Coast Main Line services connecting Glasgow Queen Street, Edinburgh Waverley and Newcastle with London King’s Cross.
• Lumo launched new services on the West Coast Main Line between London Euston and Stirling earlier this year. The route has brought direct, affordable rail links to Milton Keynes, Nuneaton, Crewe, Preston, Carlisle, Lockerbie, Motherwell, Whifflet, Greenfaulds and Larbert.
• Lumo recently scored an impressive 90% overall customer satisfaction score in the Rail Customer Experience Survey (RCXS) and was top of the league table for value for money, placing the operator firmly among the three highest-performing long-distance train operators for the period covering October 2025 to March 2026.
• Lumo is proud to be an inclusive workplace, recently being awarded the Clear Assured Bronze Standard, a globally-recognised accolade that’s awarded to businesses which can demonstrate their commitment to inclusivity and diversity. Lumo also recently won Best Small Employer at the Proud Scotland Awards.
• Lumo is committed to connecting communities and supporting growth on both its East and West Coast Main Line routes. The operator recently won a raft of Gold and Silver awards for its community projects at the Corporate Content Awards. Lumo is also supporting more Pride events than ever before in 2026, cementing its commitment to diversity and inclusion.
