Santa running fever seems to be sweeping the UK in this festive season. But how did Ealing Eagles’ inaugural Santa Run fare against the UK's finest?

Several Santa Runs seem to have gained huge popularity both as athletic events and charity fundraisers. Buy are they as fun as the Ealing Eagles Santa Run? An unscientific comparison based on a google images search reveals how much more successful our run was than any other Santa Run in UK history.

1. Edinburgh Santa Run

This photograph suggests that thousands of people showed up to the Edinburgh Santa Run, flooding West Princes Street Gardens and raising much-needed money for the “When You Wish Upon a Star” charity. But don’t believe everything you see.

It looks like a memorable occasion alright, but this photograph is evidence that the Ealing Eagles Santa Run was far more popular.

So you can keep your castle and your Princes Street Gardens, thank you very much, as the beauties of Gunnersbury, Lammas and Walpole Parks delighted the Santas who raced through them to the cheers and “Ho ho ho” echoes. And we have Pitzhanger Manor to rival Edinburgh Castle any day of the week.

2. London Santa Run

Various and sundry santas came along to this run on December 3^rd, the week before ours, biking and footing it along the Thames. While many Santas will have travelled to London to enjoy its sights and participate in this run, they did not distribute sweets to local children as ours did. Nor indeed did they have mince pies awaiting them at the finish, served by Ealing’s finest and most attractive runners.

Indeed, the New Inn pub provided a treat of mulled wine and mince pies for the pack once they arrived at the end of their route through the town centre. Bustling their way through the crowds of shoppers on Uxbridge Road, the pack of festive Clauses made their way through the Shopping Centre to the applause and cheers of onlookers who cheered them on.

London Santa Run, eat your heart out.

3. Norwich

 The attraction of this run appears to be its addition of reindeer to the conventional throng of Santas. However, they are not the only Santa Run to have made such additions.

Not only did the Ealing race have a reindeer of its very own, but elf-like Santas with pointed hats, a singularly elegant Mrs Santa (pictured below in front of a jungle background), and a “Scary Santa” addition to thrill and entertain the population of the borough.

4. Liverpool Santa Run

The final rival for Ealing Eagles’s 2011 Santa run is the Liverpool race, which as you can see in the photo opposite, sports blue Santas as well as the conventional red. This is not, as you might think, an error in the santa suit production line, but a statement by Liverpuglians who refuse to wear the colours of their infamous football rivals.

No such rivalry was to be found in Ealing. Indeed, this was a moment for friendship and togetherness as Clauses gathered in merriment to enjoy the frosty festive spirit and spread it across the borough to the delighted response of their audience. Cars blew their horns in support of the run, while others cheered from windows, spurring the runners on to complete their run.

The runners gathered at the start and finish for the photographs (below) to mark the occasion and pace each other through the 5km route. The run marked the second Christmas Party of the Ealing Eagles Running Club, held that night at the Ealing Lawn Tennis Club. Awards were handed out as well as the first marathon places clinched by the club despite its very recent England Athletics Affiliation and relative youth compared to other clubs in the capital.

The obvious conclusion of this comparison with some of the UK's most popular festive running events is that the Ealing Eagles Santa Run was a rip-roaring success, besting the country’s finest Santa Runs for camaraderie and cheer. You will know which run to attend in 2012.