Hundreds of Santas put their best foot forward this afternoon to take part in a festive fun run through the streets of Douglas.

Not just for fair-weather Father Christmases, the annual event sees competitors dress up in a variety of colorful costumes - including The Grinch, Reindeer and even a Christmas Cracker this year - before running a mile-long circular route through the centre of the capital for charity.

The area around Prospect Hill was covered in a sea of red ahead of the event as competitors gathered and started warming-up ahead of the ten second count down.

As traffic was stopped, the fancy-dress fun began with 266 runners taking their marks on the road outside the Isle of Man bank.

Minutes after the dash began, the first runners were already crossing the finish line which was positioned nearby on Finch Road after completing the short dash.

Although free to enter, the dash challenges those taking part to raise money through donations in the build-up to the run.

Jordan Cain won this year’s event for the first time in four minutes and 38 seconds.

A full report and all the results can be viewed in the sport section of this week’s Manx Independent.