The festival is scheduled to run on August 21-22 at Shepparton’s Victoria Park Lake — however, there is a catch.
Despite the event allowing a capacity of 1000 participants, the Victorian Government’s latest guidelines have capped patrons at 300 for outdoor events.
With more than 300 tickets already sold, the call has been made to pause entry for the event’s long-distance disciplines: 10km, half and full marathon.
“Once we receive the information which allows us to go ahead, we will open up the entries once more,” event organiser Liz Connick said.
“We are offering full refunds to our NSW and Northern Territory entrants who aren’t able to join us in this year’s race.”
Connick said the event was not yet sold out; registrations for the long-distance categories were simply on hold as subject to Department of Health and Human Services protocol.
And that is the sort of stop-start rigmarole that has made future planning near-impossible for the committee.
Working in tandem with Greater Shepparton City Council to keep the ball rolling, Connick said the festival could take a slightly different shape to what was initially intended.
“The initial COVID plan is very extensive and quite comprehensive,” she said.
“Once getting approval for that we now have to work through what our event model is going to look like under the current restrictions.
“Now it is in the hands of the DHHS.”
Although registrations are currently paused for the long distance runs, there is no freeze on entry to the 2km kids dash and newly-introduced 7km Goulburn River Trail Run.
“This event will provide a boost for our local economy, with visitors to flood the hospitality industry,” Connick said.
“Plus it provides the opportunity to run in a real race, which hasn’t happened in a while.
“So many runners have been in contact saying they have their fingers crossed for the event to go ahead.”
● A price rise for event tickets was set to land on Saturday, but has been pushed back a week while organisers await further instruction from the DHHS.
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