Thousands of Christmas-mad Brits took to the streets of Liverpool dressed as Santa Claus for the biggest Saint Nick-themed run in the UK.

Revellers could be seen enjoying themselves as they celebrated the yearly event, with boozy Father Christmases downing pints after they finished.

The 5k run – which once bagged the Guinness World Record for biggest Santa gathering – raised cash for the city's Alder Hey Children's Hospital, reports the Liverpool Echo.

Former Liverpool FC star Jamie Carragher, who spent the first six weeks of his life in the hospital’s neonatal ward, officially started the celebrations.

He was joined by a four-year-old patient called Betty, who spent 13 months with the Liverpudlian medics at Alder Hey after being born at just 23 weeks.

Betty's mum Karen told the BBC participants were helping to "make it possible for families to be together and in the safest of hands".

This year is the 18th Liverpool has completed the Santa run, and during Covid the event went ahead virtually.

There were also races taking place in other UK towns and cities from Exeter to Barnsley.

Some families brought along their dogs, dressed in suitable Christmas-themed coats.

Others donned festive dinosaurs, including a T-Rex wearing a tinsel scarf and jumper.

Anyone dressed in a Santa suit got free bus travel around the city centre before and after the race.

The event had a different vibe to London’s infamous SantaCon event, which sees hundreds put on the red costumes for a massive pub crawl.

Previously, snaps have shown one rowdy Santa unloading a large bottle of gin into a plastic bottle.

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Another pictured an elf grappling in the dirt while another reveller relieved himself in a bush.

Some climbed on frames in children's play areas and swigged cans of lager on park benches.

The event first started in the United States but has spread to London, earning a reputation for boozed up and chaotic crowds.

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