* See the Santa Dash gallery here

LIVERPOOL was awash with colour yesterday as thousands of Santas pounded the streets for charity.

More than 7,000 runners wearing Santa suits completed the 5k fun run across the city, some running alongside their dogs, while others pushed prams decked out with tinsel.

Organiser Alan Rothwell said participants had travelled from all around the world to take part in the event, including runners from Oslo and Vancouver.

But, despite the biggest turn-out to date, the event fell short of clinching this year’s world record by just 237 entries.

Last year, Las Vegas saw 7,269 running Santas clinching the world-record title which Liverpool last held in 2005 when 3,921 runners took part.

Mr Rothwell said: “We beat other events in Hamburg, Milan, Tasmania and our main competition Las Vegas, which only had 5,000 runners this year.

“But we failed by a miserable 237 runners to regain the world record, but it’s a great challenge which I’m sure we can clinch next year.

“The event is growing every year and the costumes people come up with are fantastic and we had 440 children taking part in the mini-run as well.

“Last year, it was windy and wet, which put a dampener on things, but the weather today has been perfect.

“We provide the route but the entrants provide the atmosphere and they’re a credit to the city.