By Jackie Bazzo
Pomona welcomed clear blue skies on Sunday and a large crowd of people eager to enjoy the festivities and friendly atmosphere of the now famous King of the Mountain festival.
A project of the Cooroy and Pomona Lion’s Club, the event continued its traditional offering of something for everyone with car displays, markets, animal farm, antiques fair, live entertainment and food stalls.
For many, it is all about the physical challenge of competing in one of Australia’s most gruelling events, the 4.2 km near vertical King of the Mountain Race up Mt Cooroora. With a field of more than 80 runners, the title of the Bendigo Bank International Challenge King of the Mountain went to reigning champion, Mark Bourne from ACT who ran a time of 24mins 37secs. He was closely followed by Ben Duffus from Brisbane (24:50) and New Zealand competitor Daniel Jones who finished in 25min 22sec.
Queen of the Mountain was awarded to Ruby Muir (27:49) who only saw the top of Mount Cooroora for the first time during her maiden race having only arrived from Wellington, NZ, the day before. Late entrant Ashild Hrige from Norway placed second in her first off-road competition in Australia with a time of 29:21 while local primary school teacher and reigning Queen Leslie Saunders placed third (32:33). Leslie’s passion for the race saw her devote much of her time in its lead-up to coaching and training the Prince and Princess race entrants from local schools.
The Zinc 96.1 Prince and Princess race held on Saturday 22 July saw over 50 children compete along a 3.4km track designed to spur future champions. Aimed at children between nine to 13 years of age, the honour of Prince of the Mountain went to Tyson Anthony, with the Princess title awarded to Mia Jeffries.
Event organiser Heather Manders said an event of this scale simply wasn’t possible without the support and help of our local community.
“Our volunteers work tirelessly over many months to provide a festival that offers opportunities for people to actively participate in a multitude of event inclusions and attractions,” she said.
For more information, visit www.kingofthemountain.com.au or the King of the Mountain Facebook page.
