Almost 500 tickets have been sold for the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance Dash in the Dark.
Tickets are selling fast for our night-time 5km fun run on Southampton Common on Saturday 20 September.
The life-saving charity is making a final call for participants of all ages to light up the night with their brightest clothes, funkiest fancy dress, neon face-paints and fluorescent glow-sticks to help keep them flying and saving lives.
Dash in the Dark is the perfect event for runners and walkers of all ages and abilities, with every penny raised helping us respond to the most critically ill and injured patients in our region.
“Unlikely to survive”
Participants include 50-year-old Army Staff Sargent Phill Ashby from Burridge, who was rescued by our team when he suffered multiple cardiac arrests on his way home from an exercise class in December 2023.
He was given CPR on scene and shocked seven times with a defibrillator before being taken to hospital by road.
Phill said:
“I can’t begin to imagine how my wife must have felt sat in the front of the ambulance. She was told I was unlikely survive.
“What the team did for me that day is just unbelievable – they never gave up. To do that every day is just amazing.”
“I knew about the Air Ambulance and that it wasn’t an NHS funded operation. But I didn’t know much about what they can do – I don’t think many people do.
“Apart from all the rubbish stuff I’ve been through I feel like I’m the luckiest bloke in the world. I can’t believe I’m alive. I was fortunate enough to survive one out-of-hospital-cardiac – let alone three.”
Sign up today
All participants will receive a free Dash in the Dark T-shirt prior to the event and a glow in the dark medal at the finish line. Check in on the night will open at 6pm. The warm-up will start at 7pm, with the 5km dash beginning at 7.15pm, as darkness falls.
The route is softly lit and paved throughout, though head torches are recommended.
Ticket prices have remained the same price as last year’s event, with adult tickets costing £20 and children (5-15 years) £16.
Every penny raised will help give our patients the best chance of survival and recovery.
