Barbara Chapman, wife of the legendary Darrel Chapman, Rebekka Battista, Our Kids Fundraising Coordinator, and sponsors from the NAB and Lord's Taverners gathered at the start line on Woodlark Street yesterday to officially launch the 2025 Darrel Chapman Fun Run.

At 7am on Sunday, August 31, more than 1,000 runners, joggers and walkers will gather in the CBD for the start of the 10km run and the 21km Half Marathon. The 4km walk/run, which is more a family affair, will get under way at 9am.

If running or walking on the day is not possible, you can still be involved through the Virtual Half Marathon. This is where you can do shorter walks or runs in the weeks before the Darrel Chapman Fun Run that add up to the 21km distance, while still helping raise much needed funds for the popular Our Kids charity.

Our Kids raises money to purchase lifesaving equipment for our local hospitals, keeping our kids local when they need urgent medical care.

(The start of the 4km run last year)

Rebekka Battista said you can register on the day from 6:15am; however, she would love people to pre-register.

"Logistically, that means it doesn't hold up the race if you are a 10k and 21k participant. Last year, we actually had 50 people register on the day, which does slow procedures down. It makes things run a little bit smoothly for us."

There are a couple of changes to improve the event in 2025.

"Last year, we had over 1000 people, and so this year, what we've just done is separate the 4k start and the 10k and 21k finish. We're starting the 4k on the opposite side of the road. It just helps logistically, because the 4k is free, but we still ask you to register prior to the event, or the 4k can register on the day. It just allows growth for both events."

"Plus, this time, for our Early Bird entries for the 10k and 21k, we are putting their name or their elected nickname on their bib. We are just trying to personalise things and have a bit of fun."

"Last year, we had a lot of feedback asking for music to be played on the course. So, we're going to have DJ Deb at the 4k turnaround, which is at the Turf Club."

That means the 10k runners will get two lots of motivational music, as the turnaround point is just after Woodlawn College, while the half-marathon runners will get four audio bites.

This is the 31st Darrel Chapman Fun Run, and Barbara Chapman has been to every one.

Barbara was reminiscing about the last time she competed in the Fun Run. "When I was a lot younger," Barbara laughed, "I'm thinking 10 years ago. Yeah, I did a walk, actually, maybe I'll make it eight."

"It was good up at the uni too, because there's a lot of open area, and then they could gather at the end of it. But that was when Darrell had formed a Bachelor of Sports and Health Science."

Rebekka remembered that the final unit of that course was an elective to help put on the Darrell Chapman Fun Run.

"We taught them how to event manage and do a whole sports event. It was like putting everything that they had learned at university into practice. And when that moved to the Gold Coast, that was when they handed it back and said, Oh, Beck, you take over it. And so, yes, that's why we moved it down here."

"And this has worked out so much better," Barbara added.

"31 years later, I'm so happy that we've still got Darrel's name on the Fun Run, and it's really helping Rebekka with all her good work for Our Kids. I feel like we're helping her out a little bit by still having the Fun Run."

For those who want to participate in this year's Darrel Chapman Fun Run and you haven't started training but would like some advice, Southern Cross University has an eight-week training program. You can download that here.

The first step, however, is to register for the event, which can be done by clicking here.