Inaugural Roebourne fun run aims for active community

Coloured dust flew and children shrieked in delight as at least 120 people got out onto the Roebourne school oval for a first-time local colour fun run recently.

Local families and children flocked to take part in the 20-minute, non-competitive Deadly Fun Run around the oval on the evening of Friday, February 22, which finished with games and a barbecue dinner.

The free event was organised by Karratha Deadly Runners founder Natasha Leslie with support from the Indigenous Marathon Foundation, to gauge community interest in a potential Deadly Fun Run series — an IMF program that aims to introduce regional and remote communities to regular running and walking events in a fun, non-intimidating environment.

It was co-ordinated by Roebourne PCYC and supported by a host of other local organisations.

Ms Leslie, who was a runner with the Indigenous Marathon Project in 2017, said the fun run was about encouraging community members to come together and be active.

“Enjoying being active and everybody coming together — just the community feeling of running — is such a big thing in my life,” she said.

“It’s amazing the bond you feel from encouraging each other and sharing that feeling of accomplishment with others.

“The idea is to get the community out there running and active and hopefully from there we can build on our Deadly Running Group in town and in future have some regular outings in Roebourne.”

She said it had been good to see so many children keen to take part in the whole run.

The event was held simultaneously with Roebourne PCYC’s popular Safe Space program, and also involved some fun activities including a tug-of-war and a foam pit thanks to a visit from local firies.

All junior participants received medals, supplied by the IMF, upon finishing the run.

Roebourne PCYC centre manager Samantha Cornthwaite said organisers had been overwhelmed by the “huge” level of interest.

“We had 60 shirts for the children and we ran out of them, and we catered for 150 people and we ran out of food, so it was really well received,” she said.

“(The event is) about having an active fun lifestyle and showing the ways that you can do it don’t have to always be conventional, by making it fun-based.”

Ms Leslie said she hoped to hold a Roebourne fun run regularly in future, possibly up to several times a year.

She said other opportunities that could stem from the run included starting a Deadly Runners’ Group in Roebourne, organising transport for Roebourne and Wickham children to train with the Karratha group, or encouraging children to be part of the Uluru Deadly Run Championships held in the Northern Territory each year.