More than 1200 runners, joggers, walkers and enthusiastic kids will come together on Four Mile Beach this Sunday for what is set to be the biggest sporting event on the Port Douglas calendar.

Leading the charge at The CANEGROWERS Great Barrier Reef Marathon Festival (GBRMF) will be Olympic marathon legend and event ambassador Steve Moneghetti, who is returning for his third year in the role.

The festival consists of seven different events spanning a number of distances, from the 74 kilometre Run to Paradise Cairns to Port Douglas Ultra Marathon, to the Coles 2.5km Junior Challenge.

Both the Redkite Fundy 5000 metres and the Coles 2.5km Junior Challenge are free for children under 12 and the GBRMF team is encouraging those interested to enter.GBRMF spokesperson, Sam Cullen, said the event had continued to grow over the past three years with more entries seen this year than ever before.

“It is such a fantastic event,” he said. “Port Douglas provides one of the best locales for an event of this scale and with more than 900 competitors across the seven events it is set to be a great day.”

Mr Cullen said what had been most inspiring were the stories coming from the athletes who were preparing ahead of this weekend. “With an event of this scale in a tight-knit, supportive community in Cairns and Port Douglas, a number of heroic and inspirational stories begin to emerge.

“The first comes from Mickey Smith, a Palm Cove resident who just four months ago weighed over 160kg with a blood pressure of 150/100.“Mickey has lost over 55kg in 17 weeks and will be not only running his first competitive run he will be running 21.1km in the half marathon.

”The second inspirational story comes from 72-year old South African Harry Botha, who will be completing his seventh marathon on his seventh different continent.

Having started marathon running at 65 years of age, Harry shows no sign of slowing down and will join an elite group of runners who can say they have conquered all seven continents.

Both the Redkite Fundy 5000m and the Coles 2.5km Junior Challenge are free for children under 12 and the GBRMF team encourages families to bring their children down to the Esplanade in Port Douglas from 7am onwards for free registration and running / walking events from 8am.

Proceeds will go towards Coles’ national charity Redkite as well as local Port Douglas charity KIND (Kids in Need of Donation).