This running weekend has everything from the junior 2.5km dash all the way to the crazy long 74km ultra marathon event!! I decided on the sensible half marathon!! This festival is in the beautiful Port Douglas in far north Queensland and money from this event goes towards projects for the Great Barrier Reef.

Not being from Port Douglas I travelled for this event, flying into Cairns and then driving about an hour to Port Douglas. I arrived the day before the half and picked up my race pack late in the afternoon on the Saturday so i’m not sure what the expo was like for this event. The pickup was super easy to find right on the Esplanade and was a good chance to check out where the start line was going to be the next morning (right along side the Esplanade). For your race entry you get your race bib and a running singlet.

The start line for this event is probably one of the best that I have ever seen. At 6:30am we lined up on Four Mile Beach for the first 4.5kms on the sand. You will get all types of terrain in the half marathon - sand, road and trail - going from the beach and then running through the streets of Port Douglas and the sugar cane fields. Being in far north Queensland it was very humid for this event, but then it rained for the last 5kms of the event which was so nice!

The start and finish line is in the same area so you don’t need to worry about transport back to the finish line. There is plenty of accommodation around the race precinct so if you are traveling for this event you should be able to just walk to the start line, there was also plenty of parking in the streets around the event if you are driving just for the race.

There are plenty of water stations along the course with water and electrolytes. The volunteers for this event were great from the 6 year old boy who said “You look like you need some water” at one of the water stations to another volunteer who sprayed us with water when the humidity was kicking in!!

There is a pretty cool medal waiting for you as you cross the finish line. There are plenty of great cafes along the beach and a short walk to the main street for refueling after the event. There was an after party event at the Central Hotel on the main street.

This is a great event in a beautiful location and I would definitely recommend it!! If you travel for this event take a few extra days and do some snorkeling on the reef!