RUN READY: Carissa Morgan, Madaline Scriven, Heidi Jay, Caitlin Carnegie-Lazzaro, Cath Taylor, Anita Kankakainen, Melissa and Lilly Van Weedenburg, Renee and Jesse Jenkins, Ruth Nelson, Anna Marley, Fiona and Xavier Hall and Mike Hallahan will be there when the Moruya Town to Surf Fun Run returns in October.
After an absence of more than two decades, the Moruya Town to Surf Fun Run is making a comeback.
The run, which will go from Riverside Park in Moruya to the Moruya Surf Life Saving Club at South Head, was last run in the 1980s.
It is scheduled for October 28 (a Sunday) to give organisers and competitors plenty of time to prepare for it.
Moruya SLSC’s Tracey Pike brought up the idea at a club meeting, and it quickly won the approval of the other members.
“Moruya is a healthy initiatives community and we are trying to get everyone active, so I was quite keen to get it going again,” Ms Pike said.
Moruya SLSC, which is running the event with the co-operation of the Eurobodalla Shire Council, estimates that about 500 people will compete.
However, “compete” may not be the ideal word.
“The focus is having fun and getting involved, rather than winning,” Ms Pike said.
“It is open to all, whatever their fitness level may be.”
The route will be eight kilometres long and will take in the Chris Brice Pathway.
Some of the categories to be contested prove this.
“We’re not going to go too category-heavy, but we will have things like pram pusher and outrageous costume,” Ms Pike said.
The tradition of fun and larrikinism will be upheld, but somewhat differently to the old days.
“One year the guys from the Moruya Sharks pushed a car out there,” Ms Pike said.
“Harry Fairbanks pushed a wheelbarrow full of beer one year,” Moruya SLSC president Mike Hallahan said.
“In previous years we have had beer contests and pillow fights at the end of the race, but that’s not considered acceptable now,” Ms Pike said.
The Fun Run previously started at Apex Park in the Moruya CBD but this year’s event will start at Riverside Park.
At this stage, entry is likely to be $15 for each individual and $30 for families (number unlimited).
Moruya SLSC is on the lookout for anyone who has any memorabilia of the event, so if you have anything, get in touch with Ms Pike on 0417 058 338.