Last Sunday's Wangaratta Chronicle Marathon and Fun Run was a celebration of health and fitness on a beautiful day at the Wangaratta Showgrounds with a rock solid community.

The strength of a community can be measured at events like this and Wangaratta passed with flying colours, with more than 800 participants and many more supporters enjoying the day.

When I took on the race director role last year I knew it was going to be a big job but was up for the challenge.

Sunday's event was much more enjoyable for me and I’m confident we can continue to improve the event with the incredible community support.

This year Wangaratta Lions Club provided marshals for the runners and walkers to cross the roads safely, and we'll be donating a sum of money to the club so they can help the community in other ways.

I'd also like to sincerely thank Yarrunga Scouts who looked after one of the drink stations, and the 33 Army Cadet Unit Wangaratta also helped with the marshalling and crowd control - the event can’t happen without this help.

The new course for the Garry Nash & Co Real Estate Marathon meant runners completed two laps of the showgrounds before heading out to the pathway along Wangaratta-Yarrawonga Road.

It was clear from the start Abdi Rhoble and Hayley Waterson were chasing back to back marathon wins by establishing early leads.

Abdi completed the marathon to win in a very slick time of 2:30:18 and despite injury troubles in the lead-up and during the race Hayley managed to crack the three hour barrier with a 2:59:13 finish.

Special mention to the Garry Nash team who helped with set up, handing out medals, the College Street water station and all round good vibes.

The RJ Sanderson & Associates Half Marathon was very competitive with Matt Miller and Katherine Dowie finishing in strong times; 1:14.36 and 1:27.34 respectively.

The RJ Sanderson team looked after the drinks station at the 10km turn around and kept the runners motivated out on course.

The BFT Wangaratta 10km was hot!

After the first kilometre the first three ladies where up in the lead pack pushing the men.

Future star Chloe Grund at just 14 doing her first 10km race edged out another young gun in Myrtleford's Jade Hazeldine in a sprint finish to crack 37 minutes.

Meanwhile, Chloe's dad Shane moved away from the field and was the first home in a crazy fast time of 31.29.

He may be 40 plus, but Chloe still has a bit of ground to make up to beat dad!

It was so great to see the BFT team across all events, including the 2km race, building up the next generation to be strong.

The Johnsons MME 5km was a high quality race with more young guns out to prove themselves.

It was another North East Vic runner and Johnsons MME team member in Hayley Whitsed who took the women's win in 18:23, while Ciaran Mawley got the men's win with a slick time of 16:31.

The Athletes Foot 2km Primary School Challenge was a great way for all the young runners to have a go in a big event.

With more than 200 runners lining up it was intense, fast and impressive running!

Josh Bryant and Elsie Cavill were first boy and girl home.

With Athletes Foot gift vouchers for the first three U12 boys and girls and trophies for the top three boys and girls in U12, U10 & U8’s it was the most anticipated presentation of the day.

The North East Sports concept is to bring people together from across North East Victoria and help promote all events.

It was great to see running clubs from Wangaratta, Benalla and Mansfield with club marquees and plenty of runners present.

If you enjoyed Sunday's run we encourage you to join your local run club to connect, improve and have fun.

The Wangaratta Chronicle Marathon and Fun Run is one of the key events for our region so get involved for you and the community.

I want to thank the Wangaratta Chronicle who have been instrumental in keeping the event going and promoting the event for the health and fitness of the community.

Let's order the same weather for next year.