Mary improved her standing from last year, when she finished fifth. She said she was very happy with her 1 hour, 29.54 minute time on the new fast, flat course at Port Macquarie. 

“I was running my own race and stuck to my own pace,” she said. 

“There were girls that went past me at one stage, but I didn’t try to keep up with them, and later on they slowed up.”

Mary was part of a strong contingent of more than 40 runners to compete in the festival, in the half marathon, 10km and 5km events. 

She said, as she completed her laps, she felt the strong Forster support coming from the crowd. 

“I looked forward to passing them again,” she said. 

“It’s so much fun to go in the local events – when you don’t have to go so far to compete. It does get very expensive when you have to travel.”

Mary is a regular at running events around the east coast. She has completed marathons in Melbourne, Sydney and the Gold Coast, has been part of the Sydney Morning Herald half marathon, and competed in running festivals in South West Rocks and Forster. 

Mary is currently in training for the Canberra marathon to be held in five weeks’ time. She has been working with trainer Mario, aiming to beat her best time. Mary began running in her high school days, before having some time off in her 20s, before getting back into it all again. She said her recent success came with the strong support of her family, particularly her husband Ian and her son Tristan, who was happy to feed his sister breakfast and babysit to help his mum compete.

Rochelle Lewis was another Great Lakes local to take out a title, as the first woman over the line in the 5km run in a time of 20.33 minutes. Catherine Boag from Hallidays Point came in third. 

Lincoln Blissett was another outstanding athlete on the day, finishing first in his age group (16-19 years) when he finished the 5km run in 17.23 minutes. 

A stand out performer at the event was half marathon runner Anthony Farrugia from Parramatta (who finished in 1hr, 10.11 minutes) who was up for more of a challenge after winning his event. He went on to claim second place in the 10km run, finishing in 33.47 minutes. 

Race director Peter Camilleri said conditions could not have been more perfect for the event, which he said was “the nicest day in six weeks”. 

A total of 1192 runners were registered to take part in all three events – the half marathon , 10km and 5km runs. A good crowd turned out to support the runners, who had come from far and wide to compete. One holiday-maker from the UK took the opportunity to run the half marathon, and enjoy a week-long sojourn in Port Macquarie, while there was one competitor from Western Australia, two from South Australia, three from Victoria and six from Queensland.

Kids were also there in force, with 150 taking part in the 2km run for 4-8-year-olds and the 4km event for 9-12-year-olds. The 4km ‘walk-and-talk’ event was a favourite with competitors. 

Peter said the success of the event would also promote the Forster Brooks Running Festival, to be held in September this year. He expected the two events to feed off each other, and continue to grow.