Runners from North Herts Road Runners and Fairlands Valley Spartans have been getting into the Christmas spirit with a number of special festive runs.

The closest one was the Santa Canta 5k and children's 1k.

Held at Letchworth Common on Saturday, the event saw 240 runners of all ages taking on the course dressed as Santas, elves, reindeer, Christmas trees and angels.

The run, now in its 10th year, chose Stevenage & North Hertfordshire Child Contact Centres as the preferred charity.

Event manager Richard Harbon said: "What an amazing day. The common was awash with hundreds of runners dressed in all sorts of festive costumes.

"Thank you to everyone who took part and donated so generously to such a wonderful charity.

"The money raised will make such a difference to local children."

Spartan John Harris was first reindeer in Letchworth where he was joined by FVS team-mates Tracy Pez and Yuko Gordon.

The Stevenage-based club also had three at the 10k Herts Santa Run at Watford.

Mike Jeffs was third senior man and fourth overall in a time of 44 minutes 37 seconds while Jonathan Jones and Dzenana Topic were 29th and 30th in the 5k.

Christmas jumpers were also to the fore as the club tackled the Minsden Chapel Run.

North Herts Road Runners had a group at the Milton Keynes Winter Half, skating through the icy conditions.

The standout result came from Caroline Thrussell, whose 1:43:42 saw her claim first place in the F55 category.

Jo Sopala also achieved her goal with 2:27:42, beating her sub-2:30 target and setting a PB in the process.

Across in Shropshire, Nick Malpeli ran 37:17 at the Telford 10k.