Run virtually in Echuca-Moama for Johnno's Run on Sunday

By Daneka Hill

Jul 22, 2020

THIS Sunday expect to see an unusual amount of people getting around Echuca-Moama’s streets for Johnno’s Run.

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Sporting their red hoodies and white race singlets, Sunday’s runners and walkers have the freedom of picking their own race routes and setting out whenever they want for the “virtual” event.

Organised by Community Living & Respite Services, Johnno’s Run is normally held in Melbourne on the last Sunday in July.

CLRS volunteer co-ordinator Liz Rowsell said the weather was looking good for Sunday and she was excited to see how the new format would go.

“It will be interesting to see how many people we actually see. People who don’t live in town will be out on their own roads, and they can start running anywhere between 8am and 4pm, or even earlier or later,” Ms Rowsell said.

Everyone taking part is encouraged to take a commemorative picture of themselves on Sunday and share it with the Facebook page Johnno's Run 2020 - Opening Doors Project.

“Normally at Run Melbourne there are photographers everywhere and we get lots of photos,” Ms Rowsell said.

“At the end we always did a big group photo with over 100 people. We can't do that, but hopefully we can do a gallery or something.”

So far over a hundred people have registered to run, and 104 singlets have been sold.

All proceeds from the $15 singlets and $50 hoodies go towards CLRS’s Opening Doors Project.

The singlets have been produced at a discounted price by Worklocker Echuca, and the hoodies by Echuca Printers.

Singlets can be purchased from Worklocker — whether you are registered to run or not — right up until the last business hour on Saturday.

Hoodies need to be pre-ordered through Echuca printers.

Johnno’s Run became a virtual event in June after three months of a state of emergency in Victoria.

Allowing participants to run on their own roads in their own time means the 2020 Johnno’s Run will be the most socially distanced race Echuca-Moama has ever seen.

As the day draws closer CLRS said it was not important to register at the very last minute, just getting up on Sunday and running a challenging number of kilometres was enough to say you had taken part.