Santa & Elf Dash 2025: Race Report

Elf Dash in Cammo Estate Edinburgh

Festive fancy dress, fast feet and festive fundraising at Cammo

What a day. The Santa & Elf Dash 2025 served up perfect trail-running weather, just enough mud to keep things interesting, and a sea of Santas, elves, reindeer, Mrs Clauses and even the odd Christmas pudding flying round Cammo.

From our youngest elf at just 1 year old to our eldest Santa at 75 (take a bow, Alex Wood), the festive spirit was unmatched. We welcomed runners from as far afield as Canada and Switzerland, making this a truly international - and dare we say world-class - Christmas event.

On the course we had:

  • 166 finishers in the 5K

  • 194 finishers in the 10K

  • Around 150 elves enjoying hot chocolate, marshmallows and skooshie cream at the finish (a LOT was consumed 😄)

Huge thanks as always to our brilliant marshals and to Westwoods Health Club, with Ellie and Leah getting everyone warmed up and ready to dash.

Speedy Santas & Swift Elves

A special shout-out to our fastest runners on the day:

  • Fastest 5K Male: John Hancock (Edinburgh AC) – 20:04

  • Fastest 5K Female: Morag McClelland (Hunters Bog Trotters) – 21:38

  • Fastest 10K Male: Jun Nakamuru-Pinder (Fulham Running Club) – 41:38

  • Fastest 10K Female: Gayle Lindsay (PH Racing Club) – 46:40

An incredible spread of age groups and clubs across both distances - full results are now available.

Giving Back: Food & Fundraising

This event wasn’t just about running. Thanks to your generosity, food bank donations were collected at the Santa & Elf Dash and delivered by our Head Elf, Issy, to the Edinburgh Food Project in Sighthill.

We were also blown away by support for Young Lives vs Cancer. On the day alone, an extra £300 was donated via bucket and card reader. Combined with:

  • £770 from the Elf Dash

  • £893 in online Santa Dash donations

That’s a total of £1,663 raised from this event (excluding bucket donations). Across the past four Santa & Elf Dashes, we’ve donated just under £4,000 to this incredible charity. Thank you - truly.

Photos Are Live!

The unedited photos from Michael Philp Photos are available. If you spot one you love, message Michael and he’ll edit it for you. He works on donations only – and if you share your photo, please tag both Michael Philp Photos and Blast Running.

From muddy trainers to massive hearts - thank you for making the Santa & Elf Dash 2025 one to remember. We hope to see you all again next year!

Fiona Hall