Geelong Half Marathon draws massive crowd

HUNDREDS of people hit the pavement along the Barwon River over the weekend as the Geelong Half Marathon returned.

Held by the Geelong Cross Country Club (GCCC), the April 6 event included a 21km run, attracting 850 runners, and a 5km run featuring an additional 150 runners.

Capped at 1,000 people, entries into this year’s event sold out at the beginning of March, a target the club has only met once before.

Race director and GCCC president Kevin McNulty said it was great to have so many competitors on the track.

“There’s quite a buzz when there’s a big crowd and of course everyone’s excited and there’s quite a lot of enthusiasm, I think it creates a really positive atmosphere.”

Mr McNulty said the day went off without any major hitches and everyone enjoyed themselves.

“We had really good weather, very still conditions and it was cool, which is great for running and the wind didn’t pick up until after we had finished.

“As a result, there was a really good atmosphere down there with such a large crowd, a lot of spectators and everything went off pretty well.”

Money raised from the event will be donated to the Andrew Love Cancer Centre and go towards the GCCC to help facilitate their events for the remainder of the year.

Event organisers are expecting to be able to donate more than $20,000 to the centre from this year’s race.

Todd Scarce was the male winner of the 21km event (01:11:12) while Ebony Dodemaide triumphed in the women’s race (01:24:39).

In the 5km, Bailey Wilson crossed the finish line first for the males in at time of 00:15:54 while Amy Fawcett was the first female in 00:16:38.

For the full race results, head to gccc.au