On Sunday October 7 the annual Run for the Firies fun run was held at Eltham North Reserve. Now in its fourth year, the run is organised jointly by the Research and Kangaroo Ground CFA fire brigades to raise funds. Both brigades are run by volunteers and rely heavily on fundraising to help protect their local communities.
The day began at 6am (actually 5am, as it was the first day of daylight savings) at Research Fire Station, packing equipment in vehicles and ferrying personnel to the reserve where the run starts and finishes. All the equipment, barriers & registration facilities were set up by 7:30 and then it was time to drop off members who were manning the road points.
We delayed the start by about twenty minutes to allow for a few stragglers who may have forgotten to set their clocks forward the night before, then the runners in the 10k event started. They were followed by the 4k runners and the 4k walkers. Before we knew it our front runners in the 4k run were back to cross the finish line. The rest of the fields in the 4k and 10k events crossed the line over the next 90 minutes or so.
When the placings had been confirmed by the timing system, prizes and trophies were awarded by the captains of our two brigades. Runners were also able to pick up a ‘goody bag’ filled with sponsors’ products & vouchers.
After the runners had headed home, it was time to pack it all up again, clean up and head back to our stations.
The event went very well and we have received some very positive feedback from those who took part via word of mouth, emails and on Facebook. The two brigades will be able to purchase some much needed equipment with the funds raised and we are already in the early stages of planning for next year’s run.
We must finally thank our generous sponsors for all their support, which included loaned equipment, cash sponsorship, donated food & drink, signage and prizes. An event such as this would be impossible without their support.
Our website: www.runforthefiries.com
On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/RunForTheFiries
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