Miss Muddy will not be making a return to Ballarat during its upcoming run of events across Summer and Autumn, with organisers opting to move the Victorian leg to Sandown Racecourse in Springvale.
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The event first took place at the-then Goldfields Novotel Resort in Creswick in November 2014 before shifting to the Ballarat Turf Club in February 2016.
The women’s-only fun run and obstacle course had been a major drawcard for the city during the two events, with thousands visiting the region.
Event organiser Adam McDonald said the event risked reaching saturation point if it continued to return to the same regional area annually.
He said there had been a noticeable drop-off between the first and second events, with around 2000 less entrants in 2016.
“Last year we went from 5500 to 3500 so you do reach a point of saturation,” Mr McDonald said.
“Even though Ballarat is separate from Melbourne we can’t afford to have both running at a similar time.”
The 2017 tour will visit Canberra, Melbourne, Perth, Darwin, Cairns and Brisbane from February to September.
The 2016 Ballarat incarnation was worth around $200,000 to the local economy according Ballarat Regional Tourism.
A BRT spokesperson said both the council and BRT maintained a good working relationship with the event organisers and were hoping to see the event return to the region in coming years.
“The weekend that Miss Muddy would have been on for 2017 is now an already jammed packed weekend of events in Ballarat with the Swap Meet, Highland Gathering, the Golf Pro AM and the Nash Hash now scheduled,” the spokesperson said. “(BRT) are always looking for new events to bring to Ballarat.”
Mr McDonald said a Ballarat event in early December remained a possibility, especially if an Adelaide date could be scheduled in the preceding week.
Organisers plan on conducting a Victorian pre-sale following the March event in Melbourne to gauge interest in a December event.
Mr McDonald said organisers would require around 2000 expressions of interest to give the date the green light.
“For us the prefect scenario is to do Adelaide in the last weekend of November and then come back through Ballarat,” Mr McDonald said.
“We’re really keen on giving regional cities a chance because not a lot of events go through there, but we need to make sure that interest is there.”
Mr McDonald said organisers were also exploring the possibility of bringing a new event inspired by Miss Muddy to Ballarat which would include both males and females.
