Get ready to run for the reef

GEELONG will be among a score of cities across Australia and New Zealand hosting a leg of what is being billed as the world’s first simultaneous running event.

The inaugural run4reef event on October 16 is expected to attract more than 100,000 runners with the singular mission of running as one in the name of helping protect the Great Barrier Reef.

To be held in the Geelong along the waterfront, run4reef will use timing technology to unite runners of all abilities across 1km, 5km and 10km fun runs, and a special elite 10km run.

Runners from 22 cities in Australia and New Zealand will also be connected through large digital screens located at all the running events, streaming simultaneous race updates and live vision from all events, helping runners from all over feel part of a global mission.

Registrations for run4reef will raise much-needed funds to help protect the reef, including developing restoration programs such as the innovative “plant a coral” initiative.

Funds raised directly from event registrations and peer-to-peer fundraising will go to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation.

The City of Greater Geelong is backing the event, and run4reef ambassador and event manager Ken Walker said Geelong had a great sporting history.

“We’ve had the World Championships of the cycling, we’ve had the AFL, AFLW, T20 – all those things – we’ve got a great sporting background and then you come here [the Geelong waterfront] and you look at this. Anywhere you go in the world, you’d find it very difficult to do better than this.

“We’re a forward-thinking city – we’ve got the parks, we’ve got the bicycle tracks, we’ve got all that and we’re looking to the future, so what better venue than something like this here? It’s just perfect.”

He said he a field of 600 people at the first event would be a good result.

Race director of run4reef Steve Moneghetti said running had been the fastest growing recreation in the past 10 years, mostly because it was so simple.

“The sport has always had a simple formula of a person and their pair of runners and within this simplicity, we saw the potential to add in an action, a global climate action. Adding a reason to run not only gets more people involved but it transforms a heavily individual sport into one where people are connected.

“We first started our run for the reef events locally in Port Douglas back in 2013 where we hosted a marathon festival with the local community but adding this larger cause to a simple run really resonated with people.

“Since then, we’ve better understood the significant threats to the health of the Great Barrier Reef and have seen a major increase in the number of global citizens looking to make a change before it’s too late. We know now is the right time to bring people together and run as one to make a difference. The Great Barrier Reef truly is the barometer of climate change and we must act now.”

For more information or to register, head to run4reef.org.