May 9, 2016
More than 230 runners and walkers gathered in Memorial Park early on Sunday morning for what has become the traditional way in Kingaroy to start Mother’s Day.
Across Australia they were joined by another 100,000 or so runners raising money for breast cancer research via the Mother’s Day Classic.
South Burnett mayor Keith Campbell launched the Kingaroy event, noting that too many South Burnett mums have died from cancer and too many mums were suffering from cancer.
After a minute’s silence – and some warm up exercises – participants took off in three batches to cover either 4km or 8km.
First across the finishing line were members of Kingaroy State School’s cross-country team who burned up the bitumen in the 4km run.
Mother’s Day Classic Fun Run local ambassador Cr Ros Heit, who is recovering from breast cancer, said the event was hoping to raise $4 million across Australia.
Since 1998, the Mother’s Day Classic has raised $27.4 million nationally for National Breast Cancer Foundation research.
By 2020, 17,210 women are predicted to be diagnosed with breast cancer each year in Australia – ie 47 women every day – as well as 140 men.