New date for City-Bay set in 2020: COVID-19 pushes back historic fun run for just the second time
For just the second time in its history, Adelaide’s City-Bay fun run won’t be held in September. But organisers are hoping the new 2020 date will attract record participation.
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For only the second time in almost half a century, this year’s City-Bay Fun Run won’t be held on the third Sunday in September.
The event has been rescheduled for the weekend before the Christmas Pageant, on Sunday, November 8, due to concerns about COVID-19.
Race director Joe Stevens said only the Sydney Olympics in 2000 had previously affected the event’s timing, postponing it for a month.
Mr Stevens said the decision to push back the event would allow more time to recover from the global pandemic and put safeguards in place.
“Given SA is one of the safest states in Australia and one of the safest places in the world, we are hoping by November everything will be sorted out and that we can move forward pretty quickly,” he said.
The race director veteran of 17 years said one downside could be the temperature – typically 3C warmer in November than September – but extra water would be provided to competitors.
Mr Stevens said the committee had liaised with the South Australian Tourism Commission, councils and major contractors to reschedule the event.
“We had to make sure we weren’t clashing with anything else,” he said.
“Initially, we were hoping for the following weekend but that’s the Christmas Pageant.”
The calendar of interstate fun runs was also considered.
“The other states have booked their events for October,” Mr Stevens said.
He said while SA’s event formed part of the official Athletics Australia Australian Road Running Championships, 92 per cent of participants were local.
And he said the committee was hopeful the 2020 event could draw record participation similar to 2013 when 40,000 competitors took part.
“The streets are full of joggers at the moment and Asics, one of our sponsors, tells us they are selling many, many more running shoes than usual in the wake of COVID-19,” Mr Stevens said.
“You only need to visit Victoria Park at 6.30am and you’ll see how many people are out walking, jogging and cycling.
“Hopefully, the 2020 Westpac City-Bay Fun Run – presented by the Sunday Mail – will be viewed as a chance to come together to celebrate what we’ve all been through together.
“I’m hoping we will see record-breaking numbers. We’ve increased our fundraising goal in 2020 as well, up from $300,000 to $500,000.”
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Mr Stevens is part of a newly formed trans-Tasman group developing protocols for hosting mass sporting events in the wake of the pandemic.
He is the only South Australian on the 11-member Australian Mass Participation Sporting Events Alliance that also includes representation from New Zealand.
“We are looking at the many different scenarios and working through how to make events safe, looking at everything from expo and bib collection, to the start line and water stations,” he said.
“Our aim is to come up with a list of policy, procedures and guidelines for mass-participation events around Australia (and NZ) so we can go to state and federal governments and say ‘This is how we want to run safe events’.
“At the moment, state (and federal) health authorities can’t provide this guidance.”
The alliance will also lobby for governments to support the mass-participation sports industry.
“The rapid onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has caused an immediate and unprecedented impact, resulting in a historic number of event cancellations and postponements, loss of jobs, and subsequent economic impact on the secondary industries that service these events,” Mr Stevens said.
REGISTRATIONS for the Westpac 2020 City-Bay Fun Run presented by the Sunday Mail are now open.
THIS year’s event is scheduled for Sunday, November 8.
PARTICIPANTS are encouraged to keep working on personal fitness.
A 12-week training workshop will start in mid-August.
TRAINING tips will be regularly published in the Sunday Mail in the lead up to the event.
Anna’s big strides following COVID-19
Anna Liptak, a 46-year-old mum, businesswoman, runner and COVID-19 survivor has the date November 8 firmly set in her mind – the 48th annual City-Bay race.
She hopes to take part in the fun run alongside her beloved sons Zach, 16, and Lachy, 14.
Incredibly, only two months ago Ms Liptak was fighting for life, her body ravaged by the killer disease.
The road back to full recovery has not been easy for the passionate runner, who has clocked up 25 marathons as well as more “half marathons and 10km runs” than she can remember.
But the City-Bay event has become something of a family tradition, with Ms Liptak running her first aged just eight years old, alongside her three big brothers including former Crows’ player, doctor Matthew Liptak.
“The runs I have done with my own kids over the years have been the best runs of my life,” she said.
“Two weeks ago, I thought I might have corona again, I felt that sick, but I rang the scientists that are looking at my blood and they assured me my antibodies are good,” Ms Liptak said.
“I am just trying to manage myself at the moment, understanding what I have been through but impatient to get back to where I was. It has been a bit of a battle really, mentally, physically and emotionally.”
Ms Liptak was hoping to run in her fifth New York Marathon this year, but has instead chosen the City-Bay as her first major run post COVID-19.
“I think it will be a great celebration for Adelaide to come together – hopefully we will be over the worst of this pandemic by then … it is fantastic to have a definite, tangible goal to head towards,” she said.