Hunter Valley Marathon is 'Over the Moon'
Celebrating the exact 50th anniversary of the first landing on the Moon (20 July 1969), the Moon Marathon Hunter Valley will take place in a much more hospitable environment on Saturday 20 July 2019.
• Planned to become a permanent addition to the 14th annual Hunter Valley Winery Running Festival, the Moon Marathon will take place at the Vintage Golf Resort and Spa, in Pokolbin.
• The 4-lap marathon will be staged on safe golf cart paths of the exclusive Vintage Golf Course, from 4.30pm. Runners who must wear a head lamp can select to do all 4 laps or take part as a 2 or 4 person relay team.
• There will be a festive atmosphere as runners come back to the start point on each lap and are greeted by their friends and families in front of the club house.
• As runners finish, the post-race party will begin, with runners warming up on a Hunter red and some of the hearty meals on offer. A few will also line up the next day in one of the ½ marathon, 10km, 6km or 2km runs, as part of the traditional Sunday event.
Why a night marathon?
• “After 14 years of staging the Hunter Valley Winery Run in and around Pokolbin, the Moon Marathon will mark a turning point for the festival”, says Event Director Paul Humphreys of H Events. ‘We feel it’s time to crank up the festival into a 2 or maybe even 3 day event, over the next few years. While our main focus with these events is always the running and health and fitness, there is obviously a major economic benefit to the area by bringing such a large number of participants to the Wine Country area.
• Over 50% of the field comes from Sydney or further, so there is plenty of opportunity for
participants to be staying overnight. In particular, entrants in the Moon Marathon will be looking to stay close to the venue.
• ‘For some time we have wanted to stage part of this event on the Saturday, to give people more chance to wine taste and dine on the Sunday, however, using the required roads is almost impossible on a Saturday around the Pokolbin area, as It is their busiest day.’ says Humphreys
• Since relocating the event to The Vintage, there is now scope to stage the event on the Saturday evening and night, once golfers are finished for the day. It is a perfect opportunity to use the world class facilities of the Vintage to stage a unique and exciting event.
• 250 runners are already signed up for the moon marathon and we are expecting around 500 runners, which is a great result for the first year.
• The Vintage is planning to offer a great food and wine buffet for post-race runner and spectators. Runners will begin to finish their relay sections at 5.45pm, with final competitors expected to finish around 10pm.
• Runners will have more to celebrate than the Landing on the Moon, but plenty are expected to dress up and make something of the convenient co-incidence.
Sunday still plenty to offer
Since starting in 2006 the Sunday event has grown to be one of the biggest regional running events in Australia. It gains entries from China, Hong Kong, Canada, US, New Zealand and France, with the event formula working to attract tourists for the weekend or longer. Across the whole weekend, the event expects to attract over 2000 participants and over 4000 spectators. The success is partly due to the interesting and picturesque courses, which meanders through or past some of the region’s most famous vineyards and resorts. The courses are interesting with some flat and hills and on a combination of roads, solid golf cart tracks and a small amount of grass. The course is not excessively hilly, but it is certainly not flat!! The regular drink stations and marshalling are provided by the local Cessnock Lions Clubs members. “With a venue that allows the start and finish lines just 50m apart, and a gourmet selection of food and drinks on the finish line, it makes spectating easy” say Humphreys. By creating a festival atmosphere, the event gives people the opportunity to get active and participate in a fun, but professionally staged recreational running event in beautiful Wine Country Hunter Valley.
Sunday’s schedule offers four running and walking events, which caters for both novice and serious participants. Races on offer include the:
1. Kids Marathon (Kids Marathon is the culmination of an 8-week program where children commit to running 40km during this period and then complete the last 2km on the marathon course on race day) – Starts 11.00am
2. 6km Winery Wander run/walk – Starts 10.15am
3. 10km Winery Run – Starts 9.15am
4. 21.1km Winery ½ Marathon – Starts 8.00am
5. Note: The traditional Sunday Marathon is held Saturday evening, on a different course. This is the Moon Marathon.
Local Hunter based Sports Event Company, H Events, has been staging events for 25 years and is committed to raising awareness around the importance of health and wellbeing and encourages all fitness standards to get involved in the festival. The event encourages the responsible consumption of alcohol. Please note, NO alcohol is offered on any of the drink stations or as part of the event.
Event information is available online by visiting www.wineryrun.com For information call Paul Humphreys on 0249348138 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.