Puffing Billy Railway (PBR) is investigating the possibility of adding a second distance to the Great Train Race (GTR) event; offering both a 13.5km and 28km run on the same day.
The 28km event would begin in Belgrave at 9am, with a maximum of 2,000 runners following the current race route to Emerald Lake Park before continuing through Wright Forest to Cockatoo and finishing in Gembrook. The challenge of racing against Puffing Billy's iconic steam train the entire length of the heritage railway is one not to be missed.
This new challenge is not for the faint-hearted. Due to the combination of sealed roads and off-road tracks, along with a 7km long hill stretching from Cockatoo to Gembrook (see proposed route map below), stringent pre-qualifiers will be introduced to ensure runners are at a level of fitness to complete such a race under the 4 hour mark.
The purpose of this survey is to assess whether this additional distance would be welcomed by competitors and if it is feasible from an event planning point of view.
5-10 minutes is all it will take to complete our short survey, including a section for additional comments should you wish to provide any.
Thank you in advance for your time, your feedback is greatly appreciated.
Matt Collopy
Special Events Manager
Puffing Billy Railway
