Jungle Queen and ARIA award winner Casey Donovan is ready to help us run this city.
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Donovan will headline live music and entertainment in Run Ballarat’s event village in late October.
The Australian Idol winner will also back up this up by pumping up participants for Run Geelong a month later.
Donovan won reality television show I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here, edging out retired Collingwood AFL star Dane Swan in the final after six weeks in the South African jungle.
The show has sparked a fame resurgence for the singer-songwriter, who released her new EP Off the Grid and Somewhere In Between last month and has become the face and voice of supermarket giant Coles’ Down, Down campaign.
Donovan has also built a stage career, including starring nationally in Queen-inspired musical We Will Rock You.
Run Australia is yet to confirm the support acts and activities for the Ballarat event village on October 22.
The village will once again feature the start and finish precinct for all events.
Participants can sign up individually or in a team to run the 12-kilometre, run or walk the 6km course and there will also be the popular 1km Kids’ Run.
New routes will take runners and walkers from the lake, back down Sturt Street, and up Mair Street before coming around the lake to finish.
Runners in the 12-kilometre loop will turn at Bakery Hill before an uphill climb to get legs pumping. The 6km event is flatter to offer a more serene stroll for those keen to talk and walk with family and friends.
Run Ballarat donates 100 per cent of registration fees to redevelop the children’s ward at Ballarat Health Services Base Hospital.
The mass participation event, for all abilities, has generated more than $920,000 since the inaugural Run Ballarat in 2012.
Run Ballarat has committed to raise half the $3.5 million redevelopment costs for the children’s ward.
Construction works on the ward are set to start next month.
Plans for the redevelopment and an expanded ward will include a short-stay facility, for children with conditions like asthma or gastro, to take them out of the emergency department where they have traditionally been monitored.
A high-observation area for the sickest young patients will help prevent children from being moved to intensive care units with adults or in Melbourne.
Early bird entries have a chance to win a family holiday on the Gold Coast. Register: runaustralia.com.au.