Trek tracking well in ninth year

EXCITEMENT is brewing ahead of this year’s Surf Coast Trek with organisers hopeful the event can raise its highest fundraising total to date in its ninth year.

The annual walking event, which will take place on April 13, continues to raise crucial funds for local organisations Give Where You Live Foundation and Kids+ Foundation.

Kids+ marketing manager Sharon Gibbons said this year’s event will aim to raise $300,000, the highest fundraising total attempt since the event’s inaugural running in 2016.

“Excitement levels are quite high at the moment, we’ve got about 1,200 participants registered at the moment, we’ve got a really big group from Geelong Grammar coming down as well, and a great group of volunteers ready to help.

“We’re putting in a lot of work to improve our finish line area this year as well, making it a lot more family friendly with a lot of kids activities on offer.

“We’ll also have local traders there too such as Blackman’s Brewery and Bellarine Distillery so we can cater to people of ages too.”

Participants have their pick of two choices for this year’s Surf Coast Trek, tackling the 40 kilometre course from Aireys Inlet to Torquay, or the shorter 26 kilometre course from Anglesea to Torquay.

The former will begin at 6.55am at first light, while the latter will begin at 9am sharp.

This year’s proceeds will again be split 50/50 between the two charity partners with Give Where You Live diverting funds raised to its community development programs and Kids+ diverting its funds to programs such as the Parent Infant Program.

“From our share of the funding we’ve really been diverting the funds to that program specifically, providing assistance to our paediatric physiotherapists, speech therapists, occupational therapists and social workers to specialise their training and continue the program,” Ms Gibbons said.

“It’s quite an intense program where we support parents and carers in the household for a child’s first two years, so it’s really important that we continue to drive it forward.”

For all registration information about this year’s Surf Coast Trek, head to surfcoasttrek.com.au