Ben Davis, 18, from Weymouth, won the race which began about 1100 GMT and ended an hour and a half later.

He said: "The event has grown in three years. There were just over a 100 santas in the first year.

"The oldest Santa who took part this year was 73 years of age."

Hundreds at Weymouth's Santa Dash (From Dorset Echo)

Nial Lamming leads the way followed by hundreds of Santas

HUNDREDS of Santas paraded through Weymouth town centre before chasing a Christmas pudding along the beach for charity.

Around 400 people of all ages got into the festive spirit by dressing up as Father Christmas, a Christmas tree, reindeer and a present for yesterday’s race.

BustinSkin race director Mark Steen said the third annual 5km Chase the Pudding Santa Dash had ‘once again’ been blessed with ‘beautiful weather’ and attracted more runners than ever before.

He said: “The first year we had about a hundred people and now we’ve got about 400 people.

“It’s a wonderful event to come down and spend some time with the kids before Christmas.

“We all paraded from the fire station, through the town where hopefully we generated a few pounds out of people’s pockets.

“Our aim was to raise £4,000 for the fantastic local charity Julia’s House.”

He added: “The weather has been astounding really.

“We had to crack the ice on the sand for the flag poles first thing and then it warmed up to around 11 degrees.

“It’s fantastic and the crowds are amazing.

“I’d like to thank everyone from Weymouth for turning out to support us.

“Come down next year and let’s make it the biggest one in the UK.”

All proceeds from the event, which was sponsored by the Royal Air Force, will go to Dorset children’s charity Julia’s House Hospice.

Squadron leader Andy Walker said they were ‘delighted’ to be associated with both the fun run and the ‘very worthwhile’ charity.

This year’s Christmas pudding Nial Lamming– the winner of last year’s race – was caught by Cambridge University student Ben Davis Ben, 18, of Preston, was last year’s Christmas pudding and the inaugural year’s race winner. He said: “This is a really good event – to get this amount of people is brilliant and it keeps getting bigger every year.”

Care worker Richard Sanderson cycled eight miles from his home in Dorchester to the event with a turkey-shaped hat and Santa suit before running the race.

He said: “Everyone was waving and all the car drivers were flashing their lights and beeping horns at me.

“Christmas puddings, donated by the town supermarkets Asda and Morrisons, were given to all competitors and a raffle was held at the Dorothy Inn pub, where all participants enjoyed a free drink.

To find out about other BustinSkin events visit www.bustinskin.com/events.html