Santa Run's record bid in balance

More than 4,500 people are believed to have run in Liverpool

Organisers of Liverpool's Santa Run face an anxious wait to find out if the event was a world record-breaker.

Thousands of runners dressed as Father Christmas took part in the 5km run on Sunday - held at the same time as a rival event in Newtown, Powys.

The Welsh run, in its fifth year, set the current record of 4,260 in 2004.

Yvonne Rothwell, one of the Liverpool organisers, said: "We had about 4,500 but are not too sure at the moment whether we broke the world record."

Race organisers have yet to count up the slips collected from entrants at the finish line of the event in Liverpool, which will then be sent to Guinness for verification.

The Santa Run is in its fifth year and is now raising millions and millions all over the world. We are very proud Dougie Bancroft, Newtown organiser

Ms Rothwell hailed the day as "absolutely wonderful", but revealed the only sticking point could be runners who forgot to hand in their tickets.

"I was giving out medals and looking to make sure they didn't have their slip still on, so hopefully we should have the amount we want," she said.

While runners were setting off in Liverpool, the original Santa Run was also taking place in Newtown.

In 2005 organisers were aiming for a different record - the largest number of Santas yo-yoing at the same time.

Las Vegas

Dougie Bancroft, who organises the Powys event, said: "We were trying to set the world record for the yo-yo and it's looking pretty sure that we have achieved that."

Mr Bancroft said they had received 4,221 entries by the morning of the event - but revealed many more took part.

"Something we didn't do before is register on the day, so that figure (4,221) will increase - but I don't know by how many," he said.

Despite Liverpool's attempts to snatch the record, Mr Bancroft said organisers were pleased there were events to rival Newtown, which started the trend in 2000.

"The Santa Run is in its fifth year and is now raising millions and millions all over the world. We are very proud."

But Liverpool's hopes of being named Santa Run record-holders could be dashed by a glitzy event held in the US on Saturday.

The run took place in Las Vegas, with organisers hoping to attract more than 8,000 Santas.