2015 Canberra Running Festival

By Kyle Evans

In the crisp light of Sunday morning, runners took to the streets of Canberra for the grueling 50km ultramarathon, the main event of the annual Australian Running Festival.

The event marked the last of a multitude of races that took place at Lennox Garden in Parkes this weekend, with distances ranging from 5 to 10km, to the half marathon and finally the ultra-marathon.

It took just under three hours before  the first place participant crossed the finish line. Incredulously, it was John Dolton who finished in first place in what was his first ever marathon with a time of two hours, fifty nine minutes and nineteen seconds.

‘’I felt great, it’s a great course and a beautiful day, I’d like to say thanks to the Canberra Running festival for putting this event on,’’ Dolton said after the race.

Local runners Craig McCreaney and Brendan Davis rounded out second and third for the men, while for the women Kelly-Ann Averey took out first place with a time of just over three hours.

This year marks the 40^th anniversary of the Australian Running Festival in Canberra. Fairfax Event Coordinator, Camille Comtat, expected this year’s milestone to be one of the most successful yet.

‘’The event is really popular every year, however this year we expect up to and above 6000 runners to take part. We have a multitude of events ranging from the 5km run, the 10km run all the way up to marathon. So no matter what kind of runner you are we have an event for everybody.’’

While the festival is considered a fun family day out, Comtat insists that the races aren’t for amateurs and shouldn’t be taken lightly.

‘’The event is definitely catered to competitive and serious runners, people really look forward to it and spend months in preparation training for it. It’s similar to the city to surf race that takes place annually in Sydney. Runners and teams come from interstate and even overseas to participate.’’

Like previous years the aim of festival participants is to raise as much money as possible for the Gold Charity program, in which all the runners who take part dedicate the proceedings to a charity of their choice. This year participants aimed to raise $250,000 for over 250 charities.