Fun run ready for starting gun

PUT your joggers on and start stretching because the Bendigo Ford Fun Run is fast approaching.

The return of the event is scheduled for Sunday, 6 March after a three-year hiatus.

The event is being organised by new company Rosalind Events, the brainchild of O’Keefe Challenge organiser Nigel Preston and Bendigo Cycling Classic organiser Geoff O’Sullivan.

Mr O’Sullivan said he met up with Mr Preston at last year’s O’Keefe Challenge and put the idea out that they bring the event, previously organised by the Bendigo Health Foundation, back.

“About three years ago fun run closed down when the threat of terrorism became quite real, and you had to put in barriers for hostile vehicles,” he said.

“It made it very hard to have the event as it was.”

“At the end of April last year, I ran into Nigel Preston who runs the O’Keefe Challenge ride and said we’ve got to do something for the Bendigo Fun Run, we’ve got to get that back and running.”

After meeting with City of Greater Bendigo staff, Mr Preston and Mr O’Sullivan planned a track that would satisfy runners, the municipality and the police.

“We had to stay off the main roads,” Mr O’Sullivan said. “So we’ve got a track that starts in Rosalind Park, goes up to QEO, then to Bridge Street, Nolan Street, and out to the Bendigo Creek Trail.”

Sticking to the fun run’s origins, all entry fees be used to buy paediatric rehabilitation equipment at Bendigo Hospital’s new children’s ward.

Mr O’Sullivan said when he pitched the event to Bendigo Ford, they backed it immediately, and it’s been easy to find other sponsors to get on board.

The Bendigo Ford Fun Run features a one-kilometre kids run, a five-kilometre and 10-kilometre run, a 21.5-kilometre half marathon and a 21-kilometre four-person relay.

To register visit bendigofordfunrun.com.au.