HUNDREDS of fundraisers created a blur of red and white as they raced through Oxford dressed as Santas to support a city hospice.

Helen and Douglas House, in Magdalen Road, East Oxford, provides respite and end-of-life care for children and young adults from birth to 35.

Yesterday, at one of the charity’s biggest fundraising events of the year, about 1,200 people gathered in Catte Street and ran 2km around the city to raise an estimated £40,000.

Among the runners were Anita James, 41, and her husband Ian, 44, from Woodstock, who were taking part in memory of their daughter Katie, who died aged 14 in April last year after suffering a spinal tumour.

Mr and Mrs James and their children Chloe, 18, Billy, 12, and Ellie, five, pinned photos of Katie to their Santa costumes.

Mrs James said: “Helen and Douglas House gave us so much support when Katie was alive and they still give us counselling and support now.”

The family hope to have raised more than £600 through the run.

Mrs James added: “It was a chance for us all to get together and remember Katie.”

June Craig, 60, from Grove, whose son Ally, 25, was a founder member of Douglas House when it opened in 2004, also joined the run. She hopes to have raised about £200.

She said: “Ally has muscular dystrophy but that does not stop him playing his guitar every year at the Childish Things concert at the New Theatre.

“He stays 20 nights a year at Douglas House and really looks forward to them.”

Literary agent Katherine West, from Girdlestone Road, Headington, Oxford, was at the run with son Joe McClellan, seven, and his cousins Ella Greenwood, nine, and Daniel Greenwood, six.

Ella said: “It’s great dressing up as Santa and I love seeing all the outfits.”

Helen and Douglas House spokesman Lin Beekar said: “This was the fifth year of the race, and we hope to have raised about £40,000 – the same amount as last year.”

First to finish, in about 11 minutes, was Paul Hughes, 27, from Abingdon, who was part of a team from Barclays Bank in Oxford.