The Tropical Journeys Great Barrier Reef Marathon team would like to publicly thank the Douglas Shire community for it's amazing support in 2015.

Organisers are thrilled with the way the regional community has embraced this annual event.

From humble beginnings in 2011 the Marathon Festival has now grown to be recognised as a major event on the Australian running calendar.

This success starts at the top with the Douglas Shire Mayor Julia Leu and Council Executive Officer Kerrie Hawkes. And Councillor Abigail Noli was so excited about the event that not only did she run the 10kms, but then took the time to present medallions to race finishers!

The value to the local community of the event became most evident this year when Tropical Journeys Port Douglas signed on until 2017 as the naming rights sponsor. What motivated the Jones family was not only the significant community, economic and lifestyle benefits the Great Barrier Reef Marathon provided to the region, but also the fact that now over $31,000 has been raised for reef research through the Marathon Festival’s Run for the Reef Initiative.

This year $16,004 was raised from registrations and contributions through the GBRM website fundraising platform. A further $6,000 was presented to community groups for their support of the event. James Cook University Deputy Vice Chancellor, Robyn McGuiggan was on hand over the marathon weekend to support these efforts and Professor McGuiggan will now be able to notify the JCU scientists involved in this year’s reef research that their projects will proceed as planned.

Thanks also go to Craig Crawford MP, Member for Barron River and Sharyn Brydon who represented Tourism and Events Queensland at the Marathon Festival. Mr Crawford was thrilled with the success of the event and will now be in a position to support the GBRM’s application for funding under the new Queensland Destination Events Program for the 2016, 2017 and 2018 Marathon Festivals.

Tropical Journeys, James Cook University and Tourism and Events Queensland have been joined by Sam and Sarah Cullen at tourismportdouglas.com.au, the Sheraton Mirage Resort Port Douglas through General Manager Steve Molnar and the Bendigo Bank represented by local Manager Helen de Ross as the other major Run for the Reef Legacy Partners.

Over 500 runners this year came from the Cairns region so the regional corporate support from Deb Murray at the Seven Network, the great Zinc FM team including presenters Dave and Inkie and the now born-to-run Fiona Arnfield, Alan Baxter’s Audi Centre Cairns, Gary Aylward at Hot Croc Advertising and Helen Laird and the Cairns Airport were all absolutely crucial to the success of this year’s Marathon Festival.

In terms of providing expert advice to the Run for the Reef Research Board John Rumney from Eye to Eye Marine Encounters and Jenna Rumney from Daintree Wonder Tours are the key regional consultants.

Locally Roy Weavers and the Newsport Daily team, the Port Douglas & Mossman Gazette, Tourism Port Douglas Daintree through EO Tara Bennett and Mikala McDowell and the Reef Marina’s Rob Cruz and his magnificent staff all provided invaluable resources and support to the success of this year’s event.

On another level the professional event management team at Managing Australian Destinations (MAD) led by the tireless Byron Kurth, Nick and Jodie Gibson from Tropica Entertainment, the sports massage staff supplied by Frank Frikker and Renee Allert from wellness@port and the never ending support from Andrew Renwick from On the Spot Signs, David Beckham and his staff from St John Ambulance and once again volunteering their time the team from Tropical Journeys, all formed the foundation of the best Marathon Festival to date.

All the positive feedback from participants to the GBRM team centered on the amazing volunteers that made the 2015 Tropical Journeys Great Barrier Reef Marathon Festival truly great.

The staggering work out on the course provided from Gordon and Cheryl Wellham and the Exemplar team, Max and Margy Brady from Glengarry Holiday Park, Ditch and Michelle Vladitch from TNQ Services, Liz Ross of Far North Training, Steve and Heather Yarr’s Dougies Backpackers and Pete and Kim Murphy’s Papillon Landscapes team are all responsible for the brilliant feedback from all participants.  A special thank you also goes out to our on course hydration provider Endura Sports Nutrition, a valuable partnership of which their product complements our conditions perfectly.

In terms of community volunteer groups this year combined Ingrid Juchem’s Port Douglas Outriggers, Sharon Beechey and Kath Baxter’s Young Guns Netball Club, the Port Douglas Fire Brigade Social Club led by Scott Henderson and Ricky Ward, Dani Bellero and the Kind Charity workers, Erica Mast and the Mossman Meteors Swimming Club, Nick Carling’s Team Carling, and many, many hard working individuals all together numbered over 170 volunteers. All these incredible volunteers made sure our runners were safe, always encouraged and that our local event was praised worldwide for this amazing volunteer support.

The work this year by the lead and sweep bike riders and quad bikers was tougher than ever given the speed and size of the fields in all events. Great work Gavin Hardy, Fred and Neil Rose, Simon Dobbs, Steve Rankin, Ian Kraska, Lance, Renae and Josh Mealing and Tristan Burrows.

And then of course there are the participants. This year in total over 1,700. 13 countries and all Australian states and territories were represented including the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Papua New Guinea, Germany, China, New Zealand and Sweden. Our youngest competitor was Sophie Mate, aged 2 years and the oldest was Sam Power at 75 who ran the 10km.

And for the first time the Marathon Festival featured Run for the Reef Ambassadors. Olympians and National Champions Steve Moneghetti, Craig Mottram, Pat Carroll and Rio bound Jess Trengove who all provided star power and the opportunity for participants to rub shoulders with these amazing athletes.

But without doubt the star of the 2015 Tropical Journeys Great Barrier Reef Marathon Festival was Sam Thompson. 8 year-old Sam raised over $1,300 for this year’s reef research projects into the crown of thorn starfish and micro-plastics – simply a magnificent gold medal winning effort. Congratulations Sam.

Once again thank you to all of our Douglas Shire – our Council, sponsors, event partners, community groups, volunteers (see the list below) and participants.

See you all back at the Tropical Journeys Great Barrier Reef Marathon Festival on the 6th November 2016.