They rushed from all corners of Auckland in the pouring rain for the promise of a meeting with one of New Zealand's favourite sons, Dan Carter.
The All Blacks star tweeted pictures of locations around Auckland to his 123,000 Twitter followers of where he would be with All Blacks goodies to give out.
"I really like the idea of playing Santa,'' he tweeted. Carter gave away some of his own All Blacks kit from the team's recent tour to the UK and came up with the plan himself.
Luciana Palmer, 12, made it to the tree Carter was standing under at Mission Bay in seven minutes flat and was rewarded with an autographed bag full of All Blacks gear.
She said it was "really cool'' to meet Carter.