{"id":362232,"date":"2025-07-03T19:20:06","date_gmt":"2025-07-03T09:20:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=362232"},"modified":"2025-07-04T20:43:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-04T10:43:10","slug":"wondai-festival-hits-its-stride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2025\/07\/03\/wondai-festival-hits-its-stride\/","title":{"rendered":"Wondai Festival Hits Its Stride"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Under 18s Dash For Cash winner Lucy Cameron, from Toowoomba, was delighted with her victory on Saturday morning<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

July 3, 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n

There was art, music, markets and lots and lots of running at the eighth annual Wondai Country Running Festival held on the South Burnett Rail Trail last weekend.<\/p>\n

Events kicked off early on Saturday morning with the regular Wondai parkrun event, with numbers boosted this week to 191 by the many visitors in town.<\/p>\n

(Other visitors, keen to tick off different events on their “to do” list, also took part in parkruns in Blackbutt, Nanango and Proston.)<\/p>\n

The actual Country Running Festival began a bit later on Saturday morning with the traditional CROW-FM Dash For Cash.<\/p>\n

Runner sprinted the 1km from the nearby creek bridge to take home cash prizes.<\/p>\n

The running festival consists of shorter, fun events on Saturday morning; longer trail runs through McEuen Forest on Saturday afternoon; and four big events on Sunday, including a full-length marathon.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The weather this year was almost perfect … not too cold, and not to hot and the potential showers held off.<\/p>\n

Mayor Kathy Duff, who officially opened\u00a0 the festival, said it was so good to see so many people out and about doing the running.<\/p>\n

She also invited visitors to test their nerves by taking a wintry dip in the nearby Wondai Pool, a new event added to this year’s festival line-up.<\/p>\n

The expanded Wondai monthly markets on Saturday also offered special activities (including Art in the Park, see below), live music, more stalls and an animal nursery.<\/p>\n

The annual Country Running Festival provides a big boost to the Wondai economy.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Organising committee member Cr Ros Heit said there had been about 750 registrations – meaning about 570 runners – as well as participants in the Family Fun Run.<\/p>\n

Many return year after year to soak up the country hospitality.<\/p>\n

The hundreds of visitors who stayed overnight packed into the Wondai Memorial Hall on Saturday evening to enjoy a special “country” dinner, complete with boiled peanuts and mulled wine!<\/p>\n