HUNDREDS of people will hike to the top of Rivington Pike in December to raise money for Bolton Hospice.

The festive challenge will see participants dress up in Christmas costumes to complete the five mile trek across the rolling scenery of Rivington to the pike and back again.

Kathryn Sheldon, fundraising manager for Bolton Hospice, is excited for the event and hopes it can bring families together.

She said: “It’s a fun way to bring the family together, whether that be close family or maybe those you haven’t seen for a while.

“It’s just a really good, fun day out getting out in the fresh air.

“It really is a challenge, it’s five miles and it’s really steep, and from our perspective you’re raising money for a valuable cause which is really in need of.”

The Hike The Pike challenge has raised £83,000 for the hospice after running for the last four years.

From 2017 to 2019, the challenged was focused on one day for the event but last year this was changed due to Covid.

It was run throughout the whole month of December and this system is being kept for this year due to successes of 2020.

It has been a challenging few years for the charity with Covid greatly affecting the hospice’s income streams as Kathryn explains.

She said: “It’s been a very challenging last 18 months. Our charity along with most have really struggled with income streams being hit, with us not being able to do events or open our shops.

“It’s had a massive impact with what we need to raise every year increasing. We’ve still had to find money from our reserves and we’ve just had worked even harder this year to compensate.

“Thankfully, events like these are slowly coming back to give us that much needed support.”

One person who will be taking part in the hike is Bolton primary schoolboy Milan Kumar, who in October received The British Citizen Youth Award for his fundraising efforts over lockdown by reading books.

The Bolton School pupil will be hiking on December 1st in his Santa costume.

Anyone interested can sign up on Bolton Hospice's website and everyone who takes part will receive a Santa or elf costume to do the walk in, as well as a special Christmas activity pack and a map.

Registration is just £8 for adults and £5 for anyone 13 or younger.