FORMER Miners basketballer Emma Ferguson is gradually building up her running game and aims to set a good example for her children.
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Ms Ferguson's goal is to be ready for the next month's Run for a Cause five-kilometre event while her two eldest children Xander, age seven, and Freya, age five, plan to be in action for the one-kilometre dash.
This will be the first live Run for a Cause in Ballarat since 2019, due to pandemic restrictions.
Xander was four years old when he last ran the children's dash and claimed a participation medal. Ms Ferguson said it was great to see his accomplishment.
"I definitely want to do this for my own kids and show them being active can be so good for you," Ms Ferguson said. "I want them to know such a healthy lifestyle can be so good for your mind, body and soul."
Ms Ferguson has started to take up running more seriously for exercise in the past decade, since her retirement from Ballarat's marquee women's team in the then-South East Australian Basketball League.
She said running was a good way to try and build back fitness after having children, including her youngest, Essie, who is one year old.
Achilles tendonitis put a stop to Ms Ferguson's running for three months but now she was starting to get back into running - and Run for a Cause was good timing.
"This is a goal we're setting for ourselves for training and getting back into running," Ms Ferguson said. "My aim is to just make it to the finish and get a medal in the end. For us, the run is for fun and to be part of a community event."
Run for a Cause will focus on fundraising for the annual Ballarat Christmas Appeal this year.
This will be the fifth Run for a Cause event for The Ballarat Foundation - including two virtual events - since launching in the wake of Run Ballarat, which finished in 2017.
The Ballarat Foundation has taken on the lead of the Christmas Appeal, which will formally launch in early November.
Ms Ferguson has long taken part in the Ballarat fun runs to have a goal, to give back and to join the wider community in making a difference.
Run for a Cause is in Victoria Park on November 20.
Along with the children's dash and five-kilometre run and walks, participants can also sign up for a 10km run (two laps of the 5km course).
Enter: ballaratfoundation.org.au.
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