Weird Sports Starring Santa Claus

Do you like dressing up like Santa Claus? If so, you will love these jolly old elf sporting events.

Throughout the world, there are several opportunities for Christmas related sports and other strange activities that include a holiday spirit. However, there are also several events that feature athletes dressed as Santa Claus or choose him as an honored guest. These festivities definitely bring a smile to the face of onlookers and create the perfect photo opportunities.

Despite this, they are not just showing off. In fact, these are real sports — no matter how odd. There are also other sports events with Santa Claus in the name that turn a lot of heads.

St. Nick the fitness champion

More often than not, you will see someone dressed as Santa Claus that is trying to work with children’s causes. For example, the 2011 Santa Claus Golf Tournament in West Palm Beach, Florida is a charity fundraiser. In addition to the typical sports event that benefits kids around Christmastime, there is another type of message Santa has taken on. In particular, he wants kids to get up off of the couch and work out. For this reason, you can see the jolly old elf wearing skis at a local ice skating rink and asking kids to join him. While these all sporty good intentions, they are not organized athletic events.

Running like a jolly old elf

When it is Christmastime, you will find that Santa is hustling, shuffling, and dashing. In other words, around the holidays, people like to get dressed up like Santa Claus and go for a 5K run. This definitely ensures a rosy set of cheeks — but is not very good for keeping a belly that “shakes when you laugh like a bowl full of jelly.” The runners in Liverpool, U.K. call their event the Santa Dash and the hundreds of people dressed up like St. Nick call it the Santa Hustle in Chicago. There is definitely the presence of sportiness found at these events and plenty of milk and cookies to go around.

Santa Claus’ sports in winter and July

The weird ClauWau Santa Claus World Championship in Switzerland has been going on for over ten years. This event is definitely sporty, contains a lot of people dressed in Santa costumes, and has a North Pole theme. When everyone is running around these creative sporting courses, they are doing a relay race, sledding, and a skiing bob competition. Nonetheless, this is not the only Santa-based competition that simulates his Arctic workshop.

Starting in 2009, those that prefer to dress as the big elf have gathered in Europe for the World Santa Claus Congress each July. There, the best Santa in the world is selected from several teams. Interestingly, this contest is less athletic but still contains aerobic segments. For example, they require each participant to don a costume and ride in a bike parade. There are also contests to see if each Santa can hold his balance while walking across uneven ground. Obviously, the focus at each of these events is to show that St. Nick is great at having fun.

Sports where Santa is named but not seen

Around Christmastime, you will hear about many sporting events that are named for Santa Claus but do not have him featured as an athlete. In particular, the Varala-Tiimi Figure Skating Club in Finland and the Hungarian National Skating Federation each have an annual Santa Claus Cup. Sadly, no one at either competition is wearing a red costume with fluffy white trim. If they are, they have not included the beard.

Some Santa-based events are ongoing, but others have become a thing of Christmas past. For instance, the Santa Claus Dive was held by the Los Angeles chapter of the Underwater Photographic Society for over 30 years. Regardless, there are plenty of opportunities for the public to take on weird sports events — while dressed as Santa Claus.


People also view

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *