RUN for a Cause will accept last minute entries online up until events on Sunday morning at run4ac.org.
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RACE BIBS can be picked up in the Run for a Cause events village, behind the accessible play space in Victoria Park on Saturday, noon-4pm, and Sunday from 6.30am. Participants must wear a race bib on course.
EVENTS: 10km run or wheelrace; 5km run or family walk; 1km children’s dash. Courses start and finish in Victoria Park and take in Lake Wendouree. EVERY FINISHER GETS A MEDAL.
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START/FINISH is in Run for a Cause events precinct, behind the accessible play ground in Victoria Park.
PARKING off Gillies Street. Accessible parking available close to the events precinct.
EVENTS PRECINCT will include a bag drop area. The village will feature community sports activities for children, massage for runners and walkers, a fairyland with face-painting, a Fernwood warm-up for all participants and food and drinks from partners. There is also a chance to meet with food relief partners.
ON-COURSE ACTIVATION: Pipers, cheerleaders, drummers, motivational signage and the Salvation Army band will be activating the course for all those in action.
Key road closure details
TRAFFIC controls will start rolling out from 5.30am on Sunday ahead of Run for a Cause. Event organisers encourage everyone to plan their movements around the course and road closures. For participant safety, any car parked on the course route will not be able to move until the final participant has passed by.
KEY CLOSURES, all 7.30am-midday
WENDOUREE PARADE: fully closed from Hamilton Avenue to Pleasant Street; otherwise reduced to one lane, traffic to flow clockwise.
STURT STREET: closed from Gillies Street to Alfred Street.
RUSSELL STREET: closed on south side of Cedar Drive.
MORRISON STREET: closed.
Expect delays at major intersections.
Information on bus services: cdcvictoria.com.au/timetables-ballarat.
For more event details: run4ac.org.
Why are we moving? The shocking food reality
Thousands of people will run in Ballarat on Sunday for a shocking issue that is largely unseen – food insecurity.
More than 12 per cent of people in Ballarat will present for charitable food relief this year. Almost 80 per cent are food insecure with moderate to severe hunger, according to a Ballarat Community Health report.
Money from your registration to Run for a Cause will help provide food relief to those going hungry.
More than a third of the people experiencing food insecurity in Ballarat are children.
A portion of participants entry fees will go directly to the Feed Ballarat Appeal, while the balance will go to one of the Ballarat Foundation’s six charity partners as chosen by the entrant.
Uniting Ballarat, The Salvation Army, Food is Free, Ballarat Community Health, Ballarat Neighbourhood Centre and Anglicare Victoria are listed as the event’s charity partners.
All organisations work to provide relief to the increasing number of families and people in Ballarat feeling the pinch from rising costs of living and a tight job and housing market. But organisations also have preventative measures in place with education and community gardens.
While rent, mortgage and bills must be paid to maintain a secure home, more people are skipping meals with no money left in the budget for food.
The Feed Ballarat Appeal was launched earlier this year with a major aim to build a Ballarat Food Security Centre.
Ballarat Foundation staff say a food distribution hub in Ballarat is needed urgently to relieve increasing pressure on charities providing food relief.
The centre would improve access to fresh food. Research has revealed those experiencing food insecurity consume only one serve of fruit, vegetables, meat or dairy a day.
The Ballarat Foundation has called for a $1.5 million investment from the state government and will contribute the remaining $2 million for the centre to be operational.
Australian food relief organisation Foodbank announced in April it would partner with the Ballarat Foundation to run the site. It will be the first Foodbank hub in regional Victoria.
Walking by example
THIS is exactly how Ballarat Grammar’s new school leaders want to put their best foot forward.
Grammar’s student guardians will band together in Run for a Cause. They have agreed to walk as one and make a statement in making a difference in this community.
The leadership group say they want to finish out the school year in the way they want to start out as year 12s – setting a good example in what matters.
Grammar student Luke Williams said a poster in the common room quickly captured their attention as the first thing they could do as a leadership team.
“We saw this as a real good cause and particularly because it is supporting local charities,” Mr Williams said.
The Ballarat Foundation’s inaugural Run for a Cause will focus on awareness and support for food security and frontline support to prevent hunger in the community. Money raised will support the Feed Ballarat Appeal to create a food distribution hub for the region and will also boost food relief partners in the region.
The Foundation aims to change the cause each year to a different social issue affecting Ballarat.
Run for a Cause fills the gap of a now-defunct Run Ballarat which, run by CottonOn, fulfilled its promise to raise more than $1 million for a new children’s ward at Ballarat Health Services Base Hospital. It did so within six years.
Grammar’s Daen Sadhai said, regardless of exams, this leadership group wanted to make time to get involved.
“As a guardian group, we want to help others and support all different fundraisers in the school and in our community as much as possible,” Mr Sadhai said. “As well as a great team-bonding exercise, this is an easy way we feel we can contribute.”
The group will do the five-kilometre walk.
Run for a Cause will also feature 10km and 5km runs, a 10km wheelrace and a 1km children’s dash. Registrations are open until events on Sunday morning online: run4ac.org. Race bibs can be collected in the Vic Park events precinct.
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