It was always going to be a divine Canberra Times Marathon after Jesus blessed it with his presence. Carmelo de la Fuente Paramo dressed up as the bare-footed son of God and was one of the record 5786 entrants in the two-day running festival based at Telopea Park School on the weekend. While he didn’t finish Sunday’s half-marathon, or speak English, he was part of the effort to raise more than $207,000 for 195 charities.
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As was Richard Low, who ran the half-marathon wearing a bear costume to raise money for diabetes – a cause close to his heart. ‘‘It started as an inside joke in the office ... it’s one of those crazy ideas that just went on,’’ the 26-year-old Adelaide engineer said. ‘‘I raised $3000 for a bear charity and last year I started with a diabetes charity because my grandmother has diabetes, so a cause close to my heart. ‘‘I figured the bear suit gets so much attention it could help with the cause.’’
The event sounded more like a rock concert than a marathon as the large crowd cheered home their friends and family as music pumped from the speakers. St John Ambulance reported no major injuries with just a few cases of dehydration, although confusion did strike at least one runner. After getting lost, he heard the dreaded words, ‘‘You’ll have to go back that way’’ as he went in search of the line.
Eighty-four-year-old Diogo Fanti had the honour as the oldest runner on Sunday. Canberra’s Rowan Walker won his second Canberra Times Men’s Marathon in a time of two hours 24 minutes 23 seconds, while Magda Karimali-Poulos claimed her fifth women’s in 2:52:12.
