1,500 Santas in charity fun run

Training to fly around the world in a single evening is tough work, especially in the middle of winter.

But Santa and his reindeer had plenty of inspiration to get running as nearly 1,500 lookalikes took to the streets of Lincoln.

The annual Santa Fun Run was a great success on Sunday with the Bishop of Lincoln and MP Gillian Merron among the jolly joggers.

Ms Merron, who was running the 3.5k route for the fourth time, said: "This is one of the most wonderful Christmas occasions in Lincoln – more than 1,400 Santas can't be wrong.

"The atmosphere wonderful here and I want to thank the Rotary club for organising such a great event.

The Bishop, Dr John Saxbee, who pointed out that St Nicholas had been a bishop himself, took part in the race for the first time.

He said: "I am very pleased I managed to complete the race as Bishop Santa Claus and it was great raising £300 for the charities.

"It was a great experience, Lincoln people at their best turning out for a good cause and having fun at the same time."