Tyler Redway
AFTER a lengthened hiatus due to Covid restrictions, the OneFortyOne Blue Lake Fun Run will be making a return this year with a newly added half marathon event for hardened runners and walkers to participate in.
Lakes Rotary Club Mount Gambier spokesperson Trevor Williams said the new and improved format they are returning with will hopefully be carried into future years.
“This is the first chance to bring this half marathon event in, which will hopefully draw more attention to it state-wide and even nationally,” Mr Williams said.
“The chance to run into a volcano and come back out of it is not the sort of chance every runner gets.”
Although the rest of the included runs will remain the same as previous years, the new half marathon was suggested by Fun Run committee chairman, Mark Praolini, a keen runner with many contacts in the state-wide running community according to Mr Williams.
“He [Mr Praolini] suggested it, the committee thought about it and we thought we would give it a run,” he said.
He also mentioned that in 2022, the committee were looking to hold the same event after the Mount Gambier Gift, which he said would help to boost tourism and the rest of the economy.
“What we would like to do is turn this into a running festival,” Mr Williams said.
“As the community of Mount Gambier expands, with more people coming to live here, we can tie this up with the Gift and the Wulanda Centre.”
Mr Williams said the committee had also received a large amount of help from the Mount Gambier City Council, Community Events and the Wulanda Recreation Centre.
“We hope that in some small way our efforts will support their vision of a healthy and cohesive society driving this ever expanding city into the 21st century,” he said.
Mr Williams said during the time the Fun Run was out of action due to the pandemic, he was flooded with questions from the public asking if the event would ever return.
He also said there was no Covid Management Plan in place yet, but said the pandemic was still unpredictable and did not rule out the option.
“The number of times in the two years we had to cancel the run, people started to ask if it was going to come back or why we couldn’t have it and I would respond that we couldn’t because it wasn’t safe,” he said.
“If it does need to be done then it will have to be and it could be something we look at.
The new Blue Lake Fun Run will be open to everyone in the general public and will kick off on Sunday November 27, 2022.
