40 for Fortey: Runners lace up to honour Toowoomba police officer killed in line of duty
It has been eight years since the tragic death of Toowoomba police officer Brett Forte but his legacy runs on as hundreds raise money to support police families.
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Hundreds of runners have signed up for the annual 40 for Fortey that honours the life of Toowoomba police officer Brett Forte who was killed in the line of duty.
Senior Constable Brett Forte was killed in the Lockyer Valley in 2017 and in the wake of his death fellow Toowoomba police officer Louise Macdonald wanted to do something in his memory and has organised the remembrance run since 2018.
Constable Macdonald said the entire Toowoomba community was affected by Brett’s death.
“Everyone in the the Toowoomba station were extremely shocked when the news broke, and all police officers across Queensland. Everyone felt it,” she said.
“Any police officer being killed in the line of duty is extremely tragic and we never want to hear about colleagues being killed.
“Unfortunately it is a risk that we have to deal with in the job.”
The money raised at the event goes to Queensland Police Legacy, a charity that assists families of police officers who have passed away.
“We wanted the event to bring something positive out of that very tragic incident,” she said.
“Whether it be through an incident on the job, or through illness or something else, we want to support the charity that supports police families.
“We have a lot of police officers involved including some of his family come along and all the Toowoomba community come along to remember Brett’s memory.”
Constable Macdonald said their goal was to reach $100,000 raised for the organisation since the start of the event.
“We’ve probably got record number signed up for this year already,” she said.
With close to 500 people signed up for the event already, online entries closed on Friday but runners can still sign up in person at TriRunning, 94a Mort St on Saturday from 9am to 11am or on race morning Sunday from 5am.
There are two running events on Sunday, the individual 4km Remembrance run or the 40km event which can be run individually or in relay teams.
The 40km event starts at 6.30am and the Remembrance event starts at 8am.
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