Almost 200 Santas, elves, reindeers and an assortment of Christmas crackers brought the centre of Douglas to a standstill earlier this week.

It was all in the name of good charitable causes generated by the annual one-mile festive run organised and sponsored by Isle of Man Bank.

Prospect Hill and Victoria Street made for an extremely fast start. Jamie Newton, winner in 2015 when the start number was also 189 (precisely the same as Wednesday’s), was once again among the leading frontrunners in the early stages with Orran Smith, Rory Dearden and Phil Caine.

Former Corinthians and St George’s footballer Dearden edged into the lead on Church Road and was several strides in front of Newton and Smith going under the Museum bridge on the steady incline of lower Finch Road.

Dearden, 28, who works for and was sponsored by Ramsey Crookall & Co, held on to grab the win in a rapid time of 4min 44sec for the mile-long course. He was one second ahead of Caine (Amber Gaming) at the finish line alongside Tynwald Buildings.

Smith (Apollo Blinds) and Newton (Douglas & Co) were also close on his heels, with the top eight completed by Steven Quayle, Neil Brogan, Michael Garrett and Chris Honour (Suntera Global).

The women’s event was equally close with Jess Bryan and Becky Watterson side-by-side with 400 yards to go. Bryan ultimately took the win by three seconds in ninth spot.