Sandy Claws Turns 50, and This Year the Oldest Race Shirt Can Win a Prize

On a December morning at Siesta Beach, a few hundred runners in Santa suits, elf hats and reindeer antlers run a mile and a half down the hard-packed shoreline and back. Some wear sneakers and some run barefoot. Near the end, some of them cut into the wave wash and splash their way to the finish. That is how Siesta Sand described the Sandy Claws Beach Run in 2023. The same piece noted that an adult in a bright-red, full-body crab costume usually greets finishers at the line.

On Saturday, Dec. 12, the race runs for the 50th time. The organizers have built this year's costume contest around time spent at the race. Two of the categories are Oldest Sandy Claws Shirt and Best '70s Costume. The race started in 1977, so those categories reward people who have been coming for decades, or at least people who saved the shirts. That makes this year's shirt worth thinking about now. Only runners registered by Friday, Nov. 20, are guaranteed one.

Fifty runnings, counted from 1977

In 2023, Siesta Sand called that December's race the 47th annual Sandy Claws Beach Run and dated the event to 1977. In November 2025, Sarasota County announced the 49th annual run for Dec. 13 of that year. Counting forward, Dec. 12, 2026, is the 50th.

Sarasota County Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources still runs it, and the Manasota Track Club sanctions the 5K. This year's presenting sponsor is New Balance University. The Manasota Track Club also helped run the race with volunteers, according to the 2023 account.

The race has grown into its home. Siesta Beach manager Jonathan Poyner worked his first Sandy Claws shortly after the county hired him, 19 years before that 2023 story. He told Siesta Sand, "People have been running this race for a long time. Now they come back and bring their kids." In the same article, Siesta Key resident Monica Condon said she was glad to find the race still going when she and her husband moved back to the island permanently in 2013. "It's just bloomed so beautifully," she said. She started running it in 2014.

The 2023 piece described the race as drawing more than 300 costumed athletes each December. A Siesta Sand preview in December 2025 reported that organizers counted more than 750 registered runners, joggers and walkers the year before.

What the sand asks of you

The 5K is an out-and-back on the hard-packed sand near the water, about a mile and a half down the beach and a mile and a half back. The county's 2026 race page invites runners to "set a fast pace across the hard-packed, world-renowned sand of Siesta Beach." The 1-mile fun run is billed as an easy walk or jog along the shore.

Your shoes are your call, and both choices show up every year. Runners in both have been reported for years, along with the late splash through the wave wash. In the 2023 account, Siesta Sand said many longtime participants bring swimsuits and beach gear so they can stay on the sand after the awards.

This year, the costume contest rewards years of showing up

Sandy Claws has always been a costume race. It is "more festive than fierce," in Siesta Sand's words. The 2026 contest has five categories:

• Oldest Sandy Claws Shirt
• Best '70s Costume
• Most Festive Holiday Outfit
• Best Duo Costume
• Best Family/Group Costume

The first two only work at a race with this much history. A shirt from an early race can now win something. If you have a stack of old race shirts in a closet, look through it before Dec. 12.

The Nov. 20 deadline matters because of the shirt. Everyone who registers by Nov. 20 gets a long-sleeve performance event shirt and runner goodies. Anyone who registers on Nov. 21 or later, including on race day, gets an event shirt and goodies only while supplies last. Registered runners who don't show up give up the shirt and goodies. Prices also go up after 11:59 p.m. Eastern on Friday, Nov. 20. If you're reading this on Thursday, Nov. 19, you have until tomorrow night.

Here is the current pricing on the official registration page:

The 5K also has a Family 4-Pack discount for groups of four, which you get by choosing the multi-person pricing option at registration. Discount codes are available for youth groups and for groups of 10 or more. Call 311 for codes and other details.

Race morning, by the clock

The race is at Siesta Beach, 948 Beach Road. Siesta Sand's November holiday roundup lays out the morning:

1. 7:10 a.m. The event area opens.
2. 8 a.m. The 1-mile fun run starts.
3. 8:20 a.m. The chip-timed 5K starts, as part of the Manasota Track Club's MTC Race Series.
4. After the races Music, food, raffle prizes and awards.

Every finisher gets a medal, including in the 1-mile and the virtual 5K. Custom awards go to the first six finishers in each 5K age category. Virtual participants can pick up packets at early packet pickup, on the beach before 7:45 a.m. on race morning, or at Sarasota County Parks & Rec, 5883 Hummingbird Ave., from Dec. 14 to 18, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Santa will be there too. The county's 2026 preview promises Santa Claus and other costumed characters. Last year, Siesta Sand reported that Santa, Mrs. Claus and a crew of elves cheered runners from the beach. In 2023 and 2025, race proceeds went to the county's Summer in the Parks Adopt-A-Camper scholarship program, which helps Sarasota County children go to summer camp whatever their family's income.

Two weeks earlier, Santa comes to the Village

Signing up by the Nov. 20 deadline means deciding before the holiday season on the Key gets going. The season opens Thanksgiving weekend with the Light Up the Village Holiday Parade on Saturday, Nov. 28.

The Siesta Key Chamber of Commerce event page gives the schedule:

• 3 to 5 p.m. Santa takes free photos at the historic Siesta Key Village Gazebo, at Ocean Boulevard, Avenida Messina and Canal Road. The first 250 children get a holiday gift bag, and there's a sand dollar craft project afterward. The Santa line closes at 4:30 p.m. so he can leave at 5 to join the parade.
• 5:30 p.m. The parade starts at Avenida del Mare and Beach Road, heads north on Beach Road and continues onto Ocean Boulevard into Siesta Key Village.
• After the parade Santa takes photos at The Big Tiki Lounge, 5311 Ocean Blvd.

If you miss Santa at the Gazebo, the Chamber says you can catch him at The Big Tiki Lounge after the parade. For parade questions, call the Chamber at 941-349-3800 or email [email protected].

Santa visits the island on two Saturdays this season. On Nov. 28 he stops at the Gazebo and The Big Tiki Lounge, and on Dec. 12 he's on the sand at Siesta Beach. Only the beach visit needs you signed up by Nov. 20 if you want the shirt.

Lori Madden has been helping buyers and sellers in Sarasota County since the late 1980s. If you'd like to talk about life on the Key, from the Village parade route to beach-access condos close to the race, Sarasota Home Pro is glad to help. Schedule your personalized Sarasota market consultation.