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The city's first ever version of the international Colour Dash is off to a splashing start, with the event raising $28,000 for Ronald McDonald House in Auckland.

Photos by: Cameron Avery.

An estimated 2000 people entered this afternoon's race wearing white T-shirts that are now covered in bursts of colour as they complete a 5km walk/run at Tauranga Racecourse.

But what's brightened event organiser Luisa Schroder's day is seeing Tauranga's Geerling family accept the cheque on behalf of Auckland's Ronald McDonald House.

Video by: Ross Brown

'They're a beautiful family and they've been using the house for a while now. So it was very exciting for us as organisers to hand that cheque over.”

An estimated 2000 people are taking part in the Colour Dash.

Luisa says an estimated 1500-2000 people have signed up for the dash, thanks to a boost in last minute registrations.

'We're thrilled with the number of people who have just come in today and signed up.

'There was lots of on-the-day registrations. I expect people were looking for the weather forecast and of course we couldn't have asked for better weather.”

Luisa says the city's inaugural Colour Dash has exceeded her expectations, particularly the 35 Tauranga businesses who are taking part.

Aimee-Leigh Brunsdon and Doug Britton at the Colour Dash.

'We've got a lot of fabulously-dressed teams and lots of corporate teams. I'm really particularly thrilled with the amount of corporate teams that have come out.”

SunLive photographer Cameron Avery is there to capture some of the action.