Okehampton Primary School’s Santa Run saw 150 festive runners brave the cold in cheery costumes on Sunday to take some turns around Simmons Park.
Wearing Santa hats, Christmas jumpers and grinch costumes, the runners ran a choice of two routes around the park in the centre of town.
Despite Storm Darragh on Friday and Saturday leaving a trail of branches and destruction in its wake, the sunshine appeared just as the runners began the trek and spirits were high.
After a slight tweak of the route the runners, led by 'Hare' Rob Kelly of Okehampton Running Club, ran a lap of the cricket field, around the path down to the bandstand, across the park, back up and around the football field.
In the spirit of Christmas, some keen runners braved this twice to do two miles.
Josh Bearman was the first one-mile runner to cross the finish line and James Dearden was the first two-mile runner to complete the route.
The Banbury family took home the prestigious prize for best fancy dress, after pulling out all the stops with their costumes.
After the last runner crossed the finish line, Santa arrived for a brief meet and greet with an excited queue of parents and children forming a queue to visit the big man in red in his grotto for a chat and a photo.
The PFTA (Parents, Friends and Teachers Association) at Okehampton Primary School said they would like to thank everyone who helped the event go ahead, to all the local businesses that very kindly donated to the raffle and to the Pavilion Cafe who cooked up some tasty festive baps to fortify the runners on their return.
