Half the distance, all the fun: Geelong Half Marathon return for its 34th year

ONE of Geelong’s last community club-organised running events is back this weekend, returning for a 34th time on the Barwon River.

The Geelong Half Marathon returns this Sunday, April 16 with close to 1,000 runners expected to take part in the 21km and 5km courses available.

“It’s our biggest event of the year available to the public, and we’re expecting a bounce back run in 2023 after what was, safe to say, a difficult couple of years due to the pandemic,” Geelong Cross Country Club president Kevin McNulty said.

Run by the Geelong Cross Country Club, the Geelong Half Marathon is also the club’s biggest fundraiser each year, but given the club is not-for-profit, funds attained on the day is put aside to accommodate the event and keep the club’s operations ongoing.

Remaining funds from the event are donated to Barwon Health and its various programs. Last year alone, $10,500 was donated to the Andrew Love Cancer Centre.

“The club has no interests financially from the event other than keep ourselves afloat so we can host this event each year,” Mr McNulty added.

“We’ve garnered ourselves a pretty good reputation with the Half Marathon event a highlight for the running community in previous years, and it’s all made possible by the volunteers that allow it to run.”

Both 21km and 5km races begin beside the Moorabool Street Bridge and then do a loop around the criterium loop track. The former runners will then make their way down the Barwon River towards Fyansford and then make their way back to the starting point.

Latter runners taking on the 5km route will complete the shorter “Mad Mile” towards Newtown and Highton, before making the return trip to the finish line.

Registrations to take part in the 21km and 5km runs will be available up until race day for a fee of $85 and $37 respectively.

Head to Geelong Cross Country Club’s Facebook page to register.