In Pictures: Sandy santas race along beach for annual pudding chase

Mr and Mrs Pudding were chased along Weymouth beach by hundreds of dressed-up runners.

People dressed as Santa make their way along Weymouth beach (Ben Birchall/PA) (PA Wire)

Santas and elves of all ages raced into Christmas celebrations in Weymouth with the annual Chase the Pudding beach run.

Mr and Mrs Pudding were chased along Weymouth beach by hundreds of sandy Santas in a fundraising event for the Will Mackaness Trust.

Adults could take part in a 5km run, while a Chase the Elf race of 2km was put on for under-14s.

(Ben Birchall/PA) (PA Wire)

(Ben Birchall/PA) (PA Wire)

(Ben Birchall/PA) (PA Wire)

Young and old were invited to take part.

(Ben Birchall/PA) (PA Wire)

(Ben Birchall/PA) (PA Wire)

(Ben Birchall/PA) (PA Wire)

(Ben Birchall/PA) (PA Wire)

The red and white crowd was encouraged to warm up before they set off…

(Ben Birchall/PA) (PA Wire)

(Ben Birchall/PA) (PA Wire)

…although not everyone was paying attention!

(Ben Birchall/PA) (PA Wire)

(Ben Birchall/PA) (PA Wire)

It was not just humans getting into the spirit of the race – although some looked more ready to run than others.

(Ben Birchall/PA) (PA Wire)

(Ben Birchall/PA) (PA Wire)