Whitby Lion's Boxing Day is Back for 2021! Are you crazy or brave enough to run into the North Sea on Boxing Day for charity?        

It has become somewhat of a tradition in our beautiful little seaside town to enjoy a rather refreshing dip in the North Sea on Boxing Day morning. It's certainly a unique and memorable experience that will raise lots of money for local charities. Fancy dress is a must, for many dippers, with prizes available for the best! In previous years, we have had some fantastic costumes such as dinosaurs, Batman and Robin, Christmas trees and even a team of traffic cones and a fancy-dress wedding proposal!

This year due to Covid it will be operated under a different format, whereby the participants pay a £10 entry fee; this will be paid direct to Whitby Lion’s. Participants can still raise sponsorship for their chosen charity, with 100% of the money they raise going to the charity/organisation of their choice. Please note, that if the participants require a sponsor form, Whitby Lion’s will still issue one. However, unlike previous years the participant will fully be responsible for distributing their sponsor money to their chosen charity. Whitby Lion’s will not collect everyone’s sponsorship money and distribute it. This is due to the unknow circumstances of covid and any future restrictions on any large events. 

This fun and frantic event has now been running over the last 47 years, originally seeing numbers soar from a handful of brave local citizens to over 160 eager individuals travelling from far and wide, desperate to run into the wintery ice-cold waves of the North Sea. Although as you’d expect, you are more likely to see the big numbers witnessing the excitement from the side-lines. The Boxing Day Dip has become a traditional family friendly event with many families meeting up after Christmas Day to spending a lovely Boxing Day morning together.

Our 2019 dip had a record-breaking response with over 200 dippers taking part and at least a thousand spectators supporting the event and joining in with the fun. As a result, the club raised over £14,000.00 for various local and national charities. We also featured on national television with BBC Breakfast filming live at the event on Boxing Day morning. We hope for an equally successful event this year and we hope the local community comes out to support ourselves, our dippers and the many charities involved.

To register and pay your entry fee for the dip, please go to www.whitbylionsclub.org.uk and go to the Boxing Day Dip page to use the PayPal link. Alternatively, you can register and pay at The Whitby Pet Shop, 15 Station Square, Whitby and collect a sponsor form. You can also register and pay on the day by credit/debit card at the registration tent at the bandstand. To keep up to date for the latest event information please visit the Whitby Lions Facebook, Twitter or Instagram pages.

The event kicks off at 10AM on Boxing Day morning, the registration tent will be open until 10:30 AM and is located at the Bandstand opposite the RNLI Museum on Pier Road. Fancy dress judging will take place at 10:35 AM with prizes going to the best dressed adult male/female, best under 16 male/female and the best team or club. After the prizes have been handed out, all the dippers will proceed to run or jog into the North Sea! 

The club would again like to thank everyone who enters, volunteers and especially The Whitby Pet Shop for taking the time to register our dippers, Esk Valley Coaches and their staff who kindly volunteer their coaches each year and Whitby Diving Club who help to ensure the safety of our dippers.