By Mikayla van Loon
The countdown to the tenth annual Run for the Young marathon event has the team at Bridge Builders getting excited and nervous all at once.
In the final stages of training and planning before the big day on Sunday 26 November, the team can feel the anticipation growing as registrations continue to flood in.
But for one person in particular the 10 year anniversary is a special moment having started it all those years ago to fill the bucket list item of running a marathon.
Race director Beck Mitchell brought the idea to Bridge Builders founder Phil Stenhouse as a way to do her first marathon but what ensued has been bigger and more powerful than Beck ever envisioned.
“I remember just getting to a point when I was in my mid 20s and I just went ‘one day is going to be now’ and I thought I’m gonna go and do it,” she said.
“I wanted to use that opportunity, of doing a marathon, as a way of helping other people.”
Starting the first year with around 100 participants, it pretty much tripled by the second year, with the aim of 1000 registrations for this year.
“[That’s when we realised] there’s something in this, people want to do this. They want to run, they want to have a great day but they also want to support a good cause,” Beck said.
“We’ve seen that growth year on year since we started. It’s always gone up, it’s never gone down and it just continues to grow. It’s quite amazing.”
The marathon event is one of the biggest fundraisers for Bridge Builders as a charity, which all goes towards supporting young people from the region.
“We’re using it as a skill development for young people. It’s what we do every day, but it obviously benefits the cause as well. And it’s just so beautiful to see that grassroots involvement because it’s not some big commercial operation coming along and the running event.
“The people running it are the people that receive the benefit. It’s just so different from what’s in the industry.”
But Beck said over the years it has become apparent that it’s more than just about helping young people, every person that runs in the event also has a story or purpose behind it.
“The stories I hear from the participants themselves you would have never expected. There’s a participant and she’s a mum and she actually lost her kid who was like 21 at the time, and she runs Run for the Young in honour of his life every year.
“It’s stuff like that and there are literally thousands of those stories where somebody has picked Run for the Young for something special like people choose it for their 200th marathon.”
Beck also said the creation of the newbie category was a purposeful addition to the race to celebrate those people who, like herself, are running their first marathon.
“My favourite part is probably watching the newbie marathoners finish. I’ve been there, done that, I know what it’s like,” she said.
“It’s only like four per cent of the world’s population that have run a marathon so they’re kind of joining a bit of an elite group and it’s a really big moment for a lot of people.
“So to be able to facilitate that and be there and cheer them on, it’s pretty special.”
As with any major event, the need for volunteers is high and Run for the Young is still looking for some extra people to man the drink stations along the Warburton Trail route.
“We just need a few more people out on the course standing at a drink station and…supporting people as they get their hydration.
“To know there’s people out there who are going to cheer on those runners as well, like the runners, while they require the hydration, having people on course encouraging them goes a long way to getting them across the line.
“Especially when you’re 32km into a marathon, you can’t be bothered but to have someone who’s a complete stranger standing at a drink station saying ‘you can do this’, that’s amazing.”
Celebrating 10 years is a major milestone, considering the two years of lockdowns and virtual events, and is something Beck said she is still somewhat amazed by.
“To be in a position now where it’s been going 10 years, I still don’t quite believe it.”
To register for the event or to volunteer, go to runfortheyoung.com.au
