On Sunday morning, over 4000 people dressed up in Santa costumes gathered together at Glasgow's George Square for the annual fund raising Santa Dash event and I went along to watch for the first time.

I arrived in town at around 8:30am because of the sparse number of buses on a Sunday. I passed by a number of patrol cars that were already re-directing traffic off the main roads.

It was cold and foggy but that didn't stop the participant's enthusiasm. I wonder if the local residents here which you can see peeping out of the windows got woken up from their lie-ins?

Warm up just before the 5000m run which was due to start at 9:30am.

Then it was time to get ready. Participants were divided into three groups because there were so many, they had to start at different times.

I didn't quite catch what the problem was but the run didn't start until 9:50am.

And they're off!

You can spot some creativity with the hats here.

It was an event anyone could join in - You pay £15 for adults and £5 for children beforehand. Costume included in the price.

I wonder how hot it gets running in the full costume even though it's winter.

Even the doggies had their own little festive clothing.

Not sure what the exact route was but it went towards Nelson Mandela Place...

Down Buchanan Street...

Followed by an uphill run which can lead to Glasgow University. Patrols were following close by in case there were any problems of course.

Then it was back to George Square.

Another dog with a cute festive coat on.

Cross the finishing line.

Finish!

Back to the warm-up spot where the participants could collect their goody bags which included a banana to help recover energy and tiredness after intense exercise. Some people didn't know that of course and just threw it away, laughing.

Can you spy the guy with the glasses shaped with the letters, '2009'?

It was around 11 o'clock when the last few runners returned and it was time to clean up.

It was a great sight watching so many people in festive costume gathered together and the red colours flowing through the streets!

Couldn't really capture the scale of the event very well because I couldn't find a place to stand. Actually got pulled down while standing up on a wall because they were worried I might get a nasty fall ^^;

My slow f/3.5 lens isn't really suited to shooting action shots... Most of them turned out too blurred to be useable. I need to save up for a faster f/2.8 standard zoom lens if I plan to take any more such photos in the future.