An Auspicious Debut

After 30 years of Sri Chinmoy Half-Marathons at Telopea Park, the event today trialled a new home on a one-mile loop around Lennox Gardens, including the beautiful the Canberra Nara Peace Park and Canberra Beijing Garden. A superb Canberra Winter’s day with bright sunshine and almost no breeze offered the perfect scenario for the inaugural event, in which the Half-Marathon is joined by two races over shorter distances – the 5 mile (8km) and 2 mile (3.2km) runs. Consensus following the event was that this race should remain at this location for its fast, flat course, great views over the heart of the lake and the city, easy access and convivial atmosphere post-race.

Normally in a race report we draw particular attention to any course records which have been set on the day – yet being an inaugural event, every winner in every category of every distance becomes a new course record holder, so rather than list everyone we refer you to the full category and overall results (below) for the complete listing of all participants’ times, including one-mile lap split times for every distance.

After the race, runners had the opportunity to ring the newly-installed Canberra World Peace Bell, which had sounded at intervals throughout the event, enveloping proceedings with a deep and soothing resonance to match the brilliance of the sunshine and splendour of the glistening lake.

Congratulations to all who participated and helped make this experiment such an enjoyable and resounding success. We look forward to your company at Lennox Gardens next year: who knows, perhaps this course will equal Telopea Park and serve as the race venue for the next 30 years, or more…