The King of the Mountain event will celebrate its 44th year this weekend with a variety of activities culminating in the King of the Mountain race at 2pm on Sunday 23 July.
Event organiser Heather Manders said they were expecting another great event with 80 adults already signed up for the main race and about 67 children aged eight-13 years booked in for the Prince and Princess race and plenty of other activities over the weekend.
The events kicks off in Pomona on Saturday with the Pomona Markets, antique fair, art market, art exhibition and a silent movie at the Majestic Theatre.
On Sunday the day event begins with the Venture Cycles Mountain Bike Ride beginning at Pomona State School with an array of activities in the town including music on the Pomona IGA music stage, amusement rides, animal farm, sand sculpture and fire station demonstrations.
The main event begins at 2pm with the Bendigo Bank Mountain Challenge Race, followed 30 seconds later by the Prince and Princess Race with a trophy presentation on main stage at 3.30pm.
In 2021 race organisers were advised by the Queensland Parks and Wildlife service that the track from the base of the mountain up to Checkpoint A (near where the stairs start) was to be closed which meant a change to both the King of the Mountain and the Prince and Princess courses. The King of the Mountain course set in 2022 is now 1km longer and the Prince and Princess course is now shorter.
A positive of this change is 30 seconds after the start of the King of the Mountain race, the Princess and Princess race can begin and finish before any of the runners from the King of the Mountain race reach the finish line.
The 2022 race of 50 children saw blistering times of 12:20 by Wade Wallis to win the crown of Prince and 13:59 by Charlotte Reed to take the Princess crown. The King for 2022 against a race group of about 70 adults was Mark Bourne with a time of 31:24 ahead of 2021 winner Jorge Hernaez Navarro who finished in 33:09. Former Princess Lee Cleary set the standard on the new course with a time of 40:39 and taking out her first title of Queen.
The changes set the new course forward for these iconic races which began in 1958 when Bruce Samuels, a local footballer and railway porter, ran to the top of Mt Cooroora as a hangover cure. He later casually announced in the bar of the Railway Hotel (since demolished), that he had done it in under an hour. His claims brought doubts and scoffs from drinkers who needled Samuels into declaring that he was prepared to do it again, under supervision.
The run was arranged for 22 March 1958, a good few side bets placed, and after no special preparation Samuels returned with 20 minutes of his hour to spare. The feat was recorded on the wall of the hotel bar and it was there in 1959, that Barry Webb, a 21-year-old Brisbane man, decided to take up the challenge and succeeded by running the distance in 35 minutes.
The first organised race with three competitors was held on 27 June, 1959 and became a regular event with the record standing at 29:44, set by Ken Fullerton in 1960, and winners were awarded the Gold Crest Cup.
Nobody remembers how many races were held from 1960 until 1979 which was when the Cooroy Pomona Lions Club decided to revive the race.
The Club was looking for an event to run in Pomona around the time the original Gold Crest Cup, which can be seen in the Pomona Museum, was found in a box in the back shed behind the local QATB Station.
The Lions Club decided to reintroduce the race to the top of Mt Cooroora, and elected to call the race the Pomona King of the Mountain Race.
They could not foresee what a great event it would become.
