The city of Shepparton is ready to pound the pavement this weekend.
The annual Campbell’s Shepparton Running Festival is back bigger than ever.
Organisers say they have broken the registration record by about 400 people this year and there are still a few more days to sign up.
The running festival has been part of Shepparton’s sporting calendar since 1998 and has grown in size with each passing year.
For the 2024 edition, which will be held August 24-25, race director Matt Morris said they were nearing capacity for racegoers.
“Good numbers for this year,” Morris said.
“At the moment we have almost 1400 in and we have a maximum of 1500.”
On Saturday, August 24, the Family 2km and 5km races will be held, with the longer and more arduous events (10km, 21.1km and marathon) scheduled for Sunday.
The festival will be at Victoria Park Lake and Morris encouraged people to come and make the most of the free entertainment on show at the weekend.
“Put out a good product and people will want to come,” he said.
“If your family or friends are running, it is a good opportunity to support them.
“For the wider community, even if you are not interested in running, we have food trucks, we have the brewery on site and we have live bands playing.
“Saturday 12-5.30pm and then Sunday from 9am-3pm, so it is a two-day festival which is free for the community to jump in and enjoy some music, food trucks and kids’ activities.”
Sunday’s main event, the Alpine Edge Marathon, is a two-lap race when runners will go along the Goulburn and Broken rivers before looping around Kialla Lakes and returning to Victoria Park Lake.
The scenic course has had runners from across the country sign up, with Morris mentioning that someone from the other side of the world is making the trip to Shepparton to take part.
“People are coming from all over Victoria as well as I think we have got registrations from Tassie, NSW, Queensland,” he said
“I think there was one person from Ireland as well.
“People are coming from big distances, so it is good for tourism in the region as well.”
Morris and his team have worked tirelessly over the past 12 months to organise the festival.
The result of that work will be ready to see on the weekend, with Morris encouraging people who may be interested that there is still time to sign up.
“There are limited spots left,” he said.
“Last I checked this morning, I think there were nine spots left in the 10km and the half marathon, and then there were seven spots left in the 5km.
“Plenty in the marathon if anyone wants to do 42km.”
Head to the Shepparton Running Festival website for more details on the event and how to sign up.