Port Fairy is preparing to host a marathon and has an Olympic bronze medallist as one of its ambassadors.
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Judy Pollock, who won bronze at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics in the 400 metres, is throwing her support behind the new Port Fairy Marathon and Community Running Festival.
Jason Daye, who came second in the Great Ocean Road marathon this year, is another ambassador for the Sunday November 14 event.
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Run director Nick Grimmer is hoping the Tokyo Olympics will also help inspire runners to hit the pavement in preparation for the inaugural festival.
He explained he and others like event director Bree Ryan were doing plenty of running during the coronavirus lockdown last year and thought it would be great to give the community something to train for.
"The town has a lot of music festivals, a lot of art-focused festivals. But it doesn't have a lot of sports-based festivals," Grimmer said.
"And we thought it's probably ripe for a sports-based festival to start and with all the people running (this past year) we thought a running race would probably be the best way to go."
Grimmer said the event also had the backing of the Port Fairy Consolidated School which will help with the massive volunteer effort.
Ryan and Grimmer are on the school's parents and friends committee.
Grimmer is keen to keep building the momentum.
"We want to get as many people in the town involved (as possible)," he said.
"But we also want to get as many runners from around the state here as well."
The run director, who participates in Port Fairy parkrun on Saturday mornings, said it would be great to give locals the opportunity to run against competitors from outside the south-west.
He believes the event will give tourists a chance to explore the idyllic seaside town from a different perspective.
"The marathon, the way it's designed, not only is it good in terms of testing your fitness and having a good physical activity - the courses are designed to take in the most scenic parts of Port Fairy," he said.
Grimmer explained the marathon consisted of three loops.
One is a beach loop which goes past East Beach. Another is the parks lope which goes through the botanic gardens and wetland reserves. The third section encompasses the Port Fairy to Warrnambool Rail Trail.
There is also half-marathon, 10-kilometre and 3.5km events on offer.
Pollock and Daye, who also participate in the town's parkrun, have been eager to do what they can to make the inaugural event a success.
Grimmer said Daye had put together a 12-week training plan for the marathon that will be on the festival website.
The marathon will be on the same weekend as the Port Fairy Adventure Film Festival which runs from November 11-14.
Grimmer realises the two events are likely to attract similar-minded people and is excited about having multiple reasons for people to visit the town.
The best way to register for the marathon is on the festival website www.portfairymarathon.com.au.
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