THE Tropical Journey’s Great Barrier Reef Marathon Festival’s Run for the Reef series has been given a huge boost with the federal government announcing it will provide $150,000 towards the initiative.

Run for the Reef Director Sam Cullen was joined by Member for Leichhardt Warren Entsch in Cairns today to announce the three-year commitment, which will help inspire participants to become Great Barrier Reef ambassadors while keeping fit and competing in events.

Cullen praised the federal government support, and also thanked the Reef and Rainforest Research Centre (RRRC) who will provide $10,000 towards the first event.

“We are thrilled to be included into the federal government’s initiative with the fight they’re doing for the Reef, and with RRRC announcing only days ago that they’ve become a partner for Run for the Reef,” Cullen said.

“The Great Barrier Reef Marathon was where it all started for us, it was an initiative that we took on in 2011 and we had the support of Warren as far back as then.

“What we’ve shown him over the years is what we’re doing is really bringing people to the cause and to the plight of the Great Barrier Reef, and really getting them involved.

“There’s no better way to do that than to get them out of bed and running on a Sunday morning.”

The news will help with the expansion of the event, first held in Port Douglas in 2013, with plans for it to be staged simultaneously in Cairns, Townsville, Mackay and Airlie Beach.

“We’ve been looking at an initiative that actually takes that cause to more people, because there is only so many that can come up to Port Douglas,” Cullen said.

“Now we want to take it down to Cairns and Townsville and further, and we’ve had enormous support from the private sector and obviously the Great Barrier Reef is something no-one can ignore.

“So we’re very happy and the support, both financially and physically, by Warren has been overwhelming, and Sheriden Morris (RRRC) has come on board not only with money but with ideas, and it just adds on to the enormous support we’ve had from James Cook University form the very beginning.”

The Run for the Reef series will operate in a similar fashion to Relay for Life, which is not just about fundraising but also building awareness and encouraging public engagement.

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“The Turnbull Government is driving a whole range of measures that will help ensure the health of the Great Barrier Reef both now and into the future,” Entsch said.

“These include initiatives to improve water quality, clean up marine debris, control crown of thorns starfish, monitor coral bleaching, support indigenous rangers and ban capital dredge spoil disposal in Reef waters among much more.

“By partnering with the Tropical Journeys Great Barrier Reef Marathon Festival and its Run for the Reef initiative, we’ll be engaging directly with local communities, national and international visitors and spreading the message about the great work that is being done.”

RRRC managing director Sheriden Morris said engaging with tourism events was a key part of RRRC’s knowledge brokering strategy.

“We need to engage with all the relevant stakeholders to effectively look after Australia’s marine environments and the species that live in them,” Sheriden said.

“Run for the Reef is a great event that attracts not only hundreds of competitors from all over the world but also global attention.

“Events like this give us an opportunity to showcase the health and diversity of Australian marine environments and the research by the Tropical Water Quality Hub that’s being undertaken to protect them.”

The Run for the Reef will support research into newly discovered Queensland whale shark populations by James Cook University.

For more information on the Run for the Reef – which is a joint partnership between the Tropical Journeys Great Barrier Reef Marathon Festival and James Cook University – visit www.greatbarrierreefmarathon.com.au/runforthereef.