Dec 20 2006

Santas on the Run

by Megan Edwards
Great Santa Run
Santas on the run

It’s easy to give up belief in one Santa, but dang near impossible to deny the existence of 4,000 of them. Well, maybe it wasn’t quite 4,000. The final tally has yet to be verified. But however many men, women, and children actually showed up in their official five-piece St. Nick suits on December 9th for a 5K run (or 1-mile walk) through downtown Las Vegas, it definitely qualified as “a lot.”

I signed up a few months ago as a member of Team Curves. My $45 registration fee netted me a two-piece red velour Santa suit, a black plastic belt, and a patch of white fur with an elastic strap to hold it on my chin. All five pieces had to be on my person, I was solemnly informed, when I checked in. Otherwise, I wouldn’t qualify as a Santa in the official count. And the official count was important, because that’s what would be used to see if the Second Annual Great Las Vegas Santa Run & Kris Kringle Jingle would make it into that Bible of one-upmanship, The Guinness Book of World Records.

Liverpool, England, holds the current record for amassing the most Santas in one place. Their annual Santa Dash attracted about 5,000 participants this year, and, while the official numbers aren’t in, it looks like they’ve retained their title. Judging from blogs on the subject, they at least perceived Las Vegas as a threat. I’m almost flattered that they had to resort to comments like, “Everyone is too busy gambling in the casinos,” and, “We can use their obesity to our advantage.”

Rivalry aside, the real purpose of both the Santa Dash and the Great Santa Run is to raise money for charity. Opportunity Village, a Las Vegas nonprofit that serves people with intellectual disabilities, is the organizer and beneficiary of the Santa Run. A number of sponsors joined the effort, including Curves, Starbucks, the Las Vegas Review-Journal, radio and television stations, and other local businesses.

I showed up early the day of the race, partly because I wanted to make sure I had a parking place closer than a marathon away, and partly because I liked the idea of seeing a crowd of Santas build. By the time Mayor Goodman appeared on one of the outdoor stages at the Fremont Street Experience, a sea of red and white was surging around the big Christmas tree. There were Santas of every description: big, small, fat, skinny, old, young, and even canine. I talked to several tourists who were wondering what was going on, and one of them went back to his hotel room for his sneakers, bought a Santa suit, and joined the crowd.

Siegfried & Roy
Siegfried & Roy on stage

The “big” celebrities of the day were Siegfried and Roy. Roy Horn, according to his publicists, had decided a few months back to participate in the 1-mile Kris Kringle Jingle. For Roy, who survived a near-fatal tiger attack two years ago, walking a mile would be a greater challenge than a marathon for an ordinary person. Together with his partner in magic Siegfried Fischbacher, Roy greeted the red-and-white multitude and then joined the throng as everyone headed to the starting point on Ogden Street.

Cheerleaders from the Andre Agassi Academy helped provide a jolly sendoff for both the runners and walkers. Because 5K isn’t really very far, and one mile doesn’t take long even if you aren’t running, the whole event was over pretty quickly. The beards and red suits began dispersing, and before long, Fremont Street was back once again to being a Santa-free zone. They’ll be back next year, though, and I’m betting the numbers will be large enough to beat the Liverpudlians. Because don’t they just sit around and guzzle ale all day? Let’s use their beer bellies against them!

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