Gábor Zacher runs in downtown Budapest dressed as Santa Claus

After several major cities around the world, such as Tokyo, Liverpool, Stockholm or Las Vegas, the most fun event of the winter running season, the Santa Run, will arrive in the Hungarian capital in a week.

Boxes filled with Santa suits are already stacked in the warehouse of the organizer Budapest Sports Office. The competitors will receive their costumes in a week, before the start on December 8, and adults can even add a white beard to their red outfit.

In all likelihood, the 9th PENNY Santa Run in Budapest will be the most popular event of all time in this category in Hungary. The number of registered participants has almost doubled compared to the previous year, and thousands of Santa-clad runners will take on one of the three distances. Although half of the participants are from Budapest, the entire country will be moved by the event: Santas will come from more than 300 Hungarian settlements, and almost 200 foreigners representing 35 countries will also start.

The mass start of red-clad runners starting and returning from Fővám Square promises to be an extraordinary sight, which the organizers will make even more atmospheric with artificial snow drifts at the start-finish line.

The many thousands of Santas bring smiles to the faces of spectators standing by the road. They applaud and marvel that the small and big Santas just keep coming and coming. It is an extraordinary experience to see the crowd of cheerful runners dressed in red

– said Árpád Kocsis, CEO of the Budapest Sports Office.