100 Santas come to Wolverhampton as park is full of Father Christmas runners
More than a 100 Santas braved the cold to take part in the Wolverhampton Santa Run.
The event at West Park was organised by the Beacon Centre for the Blind.
As well as the human runners there were several "Santa Paws" with people dressing up their dogs as Father Christmas.
The Mayor of Wolverhampton Councillor Gregg Brackenbridge got proceedings underway as he officially started the race at 9.45am on Sunday.
The popular run was back after being cancelled last year due to the pandemic.
Beacon Centre income generation director Stella Pitt said: "We have been so looking forward to this year’s Santa Run after we were unable to go ahead in 2020 due to Covid-19. It’s an event that kick starts the festive season for us here at Beacon and many of the participants as well.
"We’d like to thank everyone who came along to show their support for people with sight loss."
She added: "We are really grateful to all the Park Run Volunteers, Mayor of Wolverhampton and CityFibre, who sponsored the finish line, for their support.
"The race winner was Harry Kressler, the child winner was Dominic and doggy winner was Teddy."
Every adult participant received their own Santa Suit and medal for finishing as a thank you for supporting the charity. Youngsters got a Santa hat and medals, with doggy participants receiving a bag of special treats.
Before the run all the Santas took part in warm up exercises led by Martha Cummins to Christmas songs to ensure they did not pull a muscle on the circuit.
West Bromwich Albion fan Scott Cheesewright had a great time running through West Park in his Santa outfit.
He said: "Martha the Queen of Warm Ups was great. It was a great event and I really enjoyed it. There was a good turnout.
Jake Smith brought his dog along for all the fun.
He said: "I am doing this because I used to go the Beacon Centre myself and am doing this for my cousin who has loss sight as well other who are affected by this."
Beacon Centre for the Blind has been has been helping people with sight loss for 145 years and is hoping to raise much needed funds this festive period.
Miss Pitt added: "We are also running its popular Christmas raffle and will be serving up its community Christmas meals during December and we have a great range of Christmas gifts and decorations available."
