Events are seen as a potential life-giver for the local economy, but Events Queensland has dealt a blow to the local event calendar, failing to approve an application for funding by Port Douglas Event Managment (PDEM) to support the upcoming Solar Eclipse Marathon in November.

The company sought up to $50,000 to cement the future of large running events in Port Douglas such as the popular Great Barrier Reef Marathon Festival which attracted 700 runners in its first year in 2011.

"We were successful last year with getting $20,000 (from Events Queensland) in the lead up to this year, so we're really surprised and disappointed that the funding isn't being made available this year," PDEM spokesperson Bruno Bennett said.

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"What we were trying to do, following the success of last year, is to establish the event as an annual major event for the region.

"So, we just feel it's a disappointing result for Port Douglas because the community was very supportive last year."

Mr Bennett praised Cairns Regional Council for continuing to support the event with $40,000 in 2012.

He said while the 2012 Solar Eclipse Marathon would proceed to plan, the future of the Great Barrier Reef Marathon Festival is not yet clear.

"We'll review where we're at for 2013 and beyond, that was always our vision, to build the event.

"We hear figures of 20,000 people competing at the Gold Coast and we think we've got a wonderful event that can attract Japanese and other international runners.

"We just need to review that so we'll do that over the next few months and hopefully the event will still be sustainable and we can keep going."

Mr Bennett said he is looking forward to finding out from Events Queensland why the application was unsuccessful.

"This was specifically a Port Douglas event, and the boost for tourism last year was fantastic. The Solar Eclipse is a one-off event that we felt would leave a legacy for future years."

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