Forget the North Pole. Santa has a date with Aberdeen Beach on Sunday 13 December, and he's bringing rather a lot of friends. The Aberdeen Santa Run 5K is preparing to transform the city's famous promenade into a sea of red suits, white beards and festive enthusiasm. With Santa outfits provided for participants, there should be little difficulty identifying who's taking part.

This is emphatically not a race. There are no official finishing times, no pressure to chase a personal best and absolutely no requirement to demonstrate Olympic levels of fitness. Runners, walkers and families are all welcome, with the emphasis on enjoying five kilometres of Christmas silliness beside the North Sea. There will be a finish line clock, but nobody needs to worry about their position on the results sheet.

The route starts at the Footdee end of Aberdeen Beach and follows the promenade north, passing Codonas and the Beach Ballroom before heading back towards the finish. Previous event arrangements have included a return along the upper promenade, although participants should check the final 2026 route instructions. The beachfront setting should provide quite a spectacle, particularly if December decides to contribute a suitably brisk sea breeze.

There's a serious side to all those Santa suits too. Organisers are collecting food donations for Aberdeen Cyrenians, which supports people facing homelessness, hardship and other difficulties across the North East. It's an opportunity to bring something useful along with the Christmas spirit.

The fun begins at 10:30am, with entries open for this year's event. Every registered participant receives a Santa suit and a finisher's medal.

Five kilometres, hundreds of Santas and one very festive Aberdeen promenade. Rudolph can have the morning off.

You can enter now via the runABC race hub.

Image courtesy runABC Creative.