{"id":117145,"date":"2025-11-07T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/?p=117145"},"modified":"2025-11-05T17:33:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T06:33:13","slug":"lace-up-for-christmas-fun-run-and-give-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/lace-up-for-christmas-fun-run-and-give-back\/","title":{"rendered":"Lace up for Christmas fun run and give back"},"content":{"rendered":"

THE organisers of the Ballarat Marathon are asking the community to lace up their running shoes as part of their Christmas season celebrations.<\/p>\n

The first Ballarat Christmas Fun Run will be held at Victoria Park on Sunday 14 December, with categories ranging from a 420-metre micro-marathon for children aged six and under to a 13-kilometre event.<\/p>\n

Ballarat Run Club director Adam McNicol said the initiative is about encouraging people to have a healthy Christmas by being active and supporting local charities.<\/p>\n

“The running boom has been so big, and we’ve been really fortunate to get the Ballarat Marathon not only off the ground, but in a position over the first two years where it’s been really successful,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We’ve started to think what other events can we spin off from the marathon’s success and really engage that community enthusiasm for running.<\/p>\n

“The Ballarat Christmas fun run is all very much about having fun\u2026 it’s a great way to get a taste for an event where’s there’s timing and a bib, so the next step up from Parkrun.”<\/p>\n

Participation will support the Ballarat Health Services Foundation and Foodbank Victoria with $5 from every entry going towards the Grampians Health Christmas Appeal to fund kids’ rehab and to provide meals for people in need.<\/p>\n

Foodbank Victoria is currently feeding 69,000 Victorians a day.<\/p>\n

“We have a meals program where we are offering hot meals to people who come and access our community supermarket, that’s through referrals,” Foodbank Victoria Community Food Centre Ballarat manager Katrina Gibbs said.<\/p>\n

“We have a full kitchen where we can offer cooking programs as well, but we also distribute fresh, chilled and frozen food across our charity partners.<\/p>\n

“Demand is very, very high at the moment and it’s increasing, particularly into the festive season.”<\/p>\n

To register for the Christmas fun run, visit ballaratfunrun.au<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

THE organisers of the Ballarat Marathon are asking the community to lace up their running shoes as part of their Christmas season celebrations. The first Ballarat Christmas Fun Run will be held at Victoria Park on Sunday 14 December, with categories ranging from a 420-metre micro-marathon for children aged six and under to a 13-kilometre […]<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":211,"featured_media":117148,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-117145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLace up for Christmas fun run and give back - Ballarat Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Join the Ballarat Christmas Fun Run at Victoria Park! Fun races for all ages while supporting local charities this festive season.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/lace-up-for-christmas-fun-run-and-give-back\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lace up for Christmas fun run and give back - Ballarat Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Join the Ballarat Christmas Fun Run at Victoria Park! Fun races for all ages while supporting local charities this festive season.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/lace-up-for-christmas-fun-run-and-give-back\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ballarat Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-11-06T17:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/11\/Untitled-design-12.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Miriam Litwin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Miriam Litwin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/lace-up-for-christmas-fun-run-and-give-back\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/lace-up-for-christmas-fun-run-and-give-back\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Miriam Litwin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5d26a285fac71a1bba0f33ca120717d1\"},\"headline\":\"Lace up for Christmas fun run and give back\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-06T17:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/lace-up-for-christmas-fun-run-and-give-back\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":322,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/lace-up-for-christmas-fun-run-and-give-back\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/Untitled-design-12.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/lace-up-for-christmas-fun-run-and-give-back\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/lace-up-for-christmas-fun-run-and-give-back\\\/\",\"name\":\"Lace up for Christmas fun run and give back - Ballarat Times\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/lace-up-for-christmas-fun-run-and-give-back\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/lace-up-for-christmas-fun-run-and-give-back\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/Untitled-design-12.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-06T17:00:00+00:00\",\"description\":\"Join the Ballarat Christmas Fun Run at Victoria Park! Fun races for all ages while supporting local charities this festive season.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/lace-up-for-christmas-fun-run-and-give-back\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/lace-up-for-christmas-fun-run-and-give-back\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/lace-up-for-christmas-fun-run-and-give-back\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/Untitled-design-12.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/Untitled-design-12.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630,\"caption\":\"New initiative: Ballarat Run Club director Adam McNicol and Foodbank Victoria Community Food Centre Ballarat manager Katrina Gibbs. Photo: MIRIAM LITWIN\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/lace-up-for-christmas-fun-run-and-give-back\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Lace up for Christmas fun run and give back\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ballarat Times\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Ballarat Times\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2021\\\/10\\\/BALT.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2021\\\/10\\\/BALT.png\",\"width\":739,\"height\":98,\"caption\":\"Ballarat Times\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5d26a285fac71a1bba0f33ca120717d1\",\"name\":\"Miriam Litwin\",\"description\":\"Miriam Litwin is a journalist and digital content lead with the Ballarat Times, Golden Plains Times and Moorabool News, covering local politics and community news.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/author\\\/miriam\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Lace up for Christmas fun run and give back - Ballarat Times","description":"Join the Ballarat Christmas Fun Run at Victoria Park! Fun races for all ages while supporting local charities this festive season.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/lace-up-for-christmas-fun-run-and-give-back\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Lace up for Christmas fun run and give back - Ballarat Times","og_description":"Join the Ballarat Christmas Fun Run at Victoria Park! Fun races for all ages while supporting local charities this festive season.","og_url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/lace-up-for-christmas-fun-run-and-give-back\/","og_site_name":"Ballarat Times","article_published_time":"2025-11-06T17:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/11\/Untitled-design-12.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Miriam Litwin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Miriam Litwin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/lace-up-for-christmas-fun-run-and-give-back\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/lace-up-for-christmas-fun-run-and-give-back\/"},"author":{"name":"Miriam Litwin","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#\/schema\/person\/5d26a285fac71a1bba0f33ca120717d1"},"headline":"Lace up for Christmas fun run and give back","datePublished":"2025-11-06T17:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/lace-up-for-christmas-fun-run-and-give-back\/"},"wordCount":322,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/lace-up-for-christmas-fun-run-and-give-back\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/11\/Untitled-design-12.jpg","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/lace-up-for-christmas-fun-run-and-give-back\/","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/lace-up-for-christmas-fun-run-and-give-back\/","name":"Lace up for Christmas fun run and give back - Ballarat Times","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/lace-up-for-christmas-fun-run-and-give-back\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/lace-up-for-christmas-fun-run-and-give-back\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/11\/Untitled-design-12.jpg","datePublished":"2025-11-06T17:00:00+00:00","description":"Join the Ballarat Christmas Fun Run at Victoria Park! Fun races for all ages while supporting local charities this festive season.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/lace-up-for-christmas-fun-run-and-give-back\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/lace-up-for-christmas-fun-run-and-give-back\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/lace-up-for-christmas-fun-run-and-give-back\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/11\/Untitled-design-12.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/11\/Untitled-design-12.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"caption":"New initiative: Ballarat Run Club director Adam McNicol and Foodbank Victoria Community Food Centre Ballarat manager Katrina Gibbs. Photo: MIRIAM LITWIN"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/lace-up-for-christmas-fun-run-and-give-back\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Lace up for Christmas fun run and give back"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#website","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/","name":"Ballarat Times","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#organization","name":"Ballarat Times","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2021\/10\/BALT.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2021\/10\/BALT.png","width":739,"height":98,"caption":"Ballarat Times"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#\/schema\/person\/5d26a285fac71a1bba0f33ca120717d1","name":"Miriam Litwin","description":"Miriam Litwin is a journalist and digital content lead with the Ballarat Times, Golden Plains Times and Moorabool News, covering local politics and community news.","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/author\/miriam\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/211"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117145"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117145\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117145"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=117145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}