Now, almost two weeks after the running of the inaugural GBR Marathon Festival in Port Douglas, organisers have been able to collate all of the imagery from the successful event to accompany today's submission to Council for funding into the future.

GBR Marathon entrants are advised that photos of them are now available from marathon imagery professionals Marathon Photos.com.

Also available online (and adjacent left) is an array of YouTube footage collated by PDEM and contributors including the events Tourism Ambassador Ben Southall and The Newsport.

Organisers thanked long term aerial partners Sky Safari Air Touring and Perrin Clark Photography who enabled the amazing photos and video footage taken of the start of the 2011 race from the helicopter, showcasing a unique perspective of the pristine stretch of the region's most famous land mark, Four Mile Beach.

PDEM's Managing Director Sam Cullen said "This is the first time Four Mile Beach has been shot like this and we know from what our interstate and international competitors have told us that this beach is worth travelling long distances to run down."

Special mention was also made by PDEM of the seven corporate water stations that lined the 21km Port Douglas / Mowbray course. "We have stumbled across a great resource for the event into the future with all corporate water stations confirming their involvement in next years event already" said Mr Cullen.

The water stations were represented by The Wildlife Habitat, Sheraton Mirage, Raine & Horne Real Estate, Rasmussen Contractors, Papillon Landscaping, Glengarry Caravan Park and Windswell Kitesurfing.

Organisers have confirmed after the wash up that the event attracted 15 international, 105 interstate, 220 QLD regional and approximately 275 Cairns and Port Douglas entrants providing an economic boost into the Port Douglas area in the shoulder tourism period. 

Funding rounds close today for the Cairns Regional Council and Mr Cullen hopes that after the success of the first event, Council will support the event for a term of three years or more, including next year's already well documented Solar Eclipse Marathon.

"Mayor Schier and Council have shown true committment to diversifying Tourism demand in the region to date with the support for all things major events including great support for Port Douglas to hold these events.

"We are now asking them to back Port Douglas to guarantee this event into the future allowing us to build on next year's Solar event and come back in 2013 with not only similar numbers to 2012 (estimated 2000 runners) but with growth on 2012 into 2013."

PDEM organisers have said Events Queensland (the second major funding partner), has also indicated that they too support the concept of the Port Douglas-based marathon continuing well into the future.

Next year's well kept secret Solar Eclipse Marathon course will include brand new sections of the Port Douglas and Mowbray Valley area with many of the GBR Ultra and Half Marathon runners already getting very excited about the release of the new Solar Eclipse Marathon website in the coming days.

Missed a story? Check out our extensive News Archive.