Runners from across the region and beyond descended on Castlemaine on AFL grand final eve, September 23, for the annual Run The Maine fundraiser.
It was the first time in two years that runners could return to the track after pandemic disruption forced the popular annual event to move to an online format.
Hundreds of runners celebrated the event’s highly anticipated return taking to the trails in and around Castlemaine and raising valuable funds for Castlemaine’s hospital Dhelkaya Health.
Featuring three different runs over 5km, 10km and 21.1 km, the action started with the 21.1km half marathon runners catching the Victorian Goldfields Railway steam train out to their Maldon start line, while the 10km run featured a loop through Walmer Forest and the 5km walk/run took participants up Gingell Street and through the picturesque Castlemaine Botanical Gardens. The event winding up under lights at Camp Reserve.
Run The Maine event director Gavin Krasner said the team were delighted with the response to their physical first run back following covid.
“We had just under 500 runners take to the three courses with participants travelling to Castlemaine from as far away as Perth, Brisbane and right across Victoria,” he said.
“We even had a Dutch runner, currently working in Musk, take out our five kilometre Open Men’s event!”
Gavin said funds were still being tallied at the time of going to press but they were well on target to smashing their fundraising goal and securing a BiPAP ventilation machine for Dhelkaya Health.
The run director said they had a fantastic response to their new 5km and 10km course routes and the 21km event which commences with a VGR steam train ride to the start line in Maldon was once again a highlight.
“This year we also introduced running themed badges in the place of participation medals and these were also a huge hit. Our runners couldn’t get enough of them,” he said.
First across the line in the Open Men’s 21km was Sean Tee in a time of 1:26:14. First in the Open Other 21km was Jesse Boylan in 2:16:34. First in the Women’s Open 21km was Vanessa Bull 1:44:02.
First in the Veteran Male 21km was Mark Dainton 1:40:46 and first in the Veteran Female was Robin Murdoch 2:06:14.
In the 10km first Open Female was Laura Sammon 46:55, Open Male Taine Lang 37:02, Open Male Veteran David Reide 52:30, Under 15 Female Keely Williams 50:30, Under 15 Male Lachlan Stewart 48:10.
In the 5km first Open Female was Tully Lang 20:47, Open Male Bram Van Druten 16:02, Veteran Female Jane Marriott 31:53, Veteran Male Gavin Kearney 20:04, Under 15 Female Willow Kelly 21:59, Under 15 Male Alex Welch 20:27.
