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LATE NEWS - Half Marathon "Sold Out"
THE Rotary Beachside Festival’s half marathon was ‘sold out’, coordinator Kevin McDonnell told the committee last week.
So he has increased the number of runners allowed to 70 and reduced the 2.5-kilometre field by 15 spots on the registernow website.
He has asked our website and FaceBook gurus to put out the message because a number of would-be runners have not been able to get on.
If all the new 21-km spots are filled, the festival’s takings will be boosted by nearly $600 — a nice bonus for Palm Beach Rotary’s various charitable causes.
Last Wednesday, festival chairman Kevin Fahie told Palm Beach Rotary Club members that virtually every member had been allocated a task for the day of the festival — and the day before. He had not been told that anybody could not be there. If anyone could not turn up, let him know.
If anything happens on the big day, club members should not try to solve it themselves but quickly contact the person in charge of that area or him. This was the way to go in anything but an emergency.
Graham Hunter is the festival’s site foreman and safety officer. He will call for an evacuation if needed.
Neil Wall is in charge of the vendors.
Because of the Covid health requirements, people can't set up their stands wherever they like. The whole site has to be carefully planned.
The festival site will be set up on Saturday afternoon, March 13, starting at 2.30pm. People who have promised marquees, trestle tables and chairs are asked to bring them then. Beer and pizza (from Bayside Pizaas, one of the festival’s sponsors) will be served after everything is together.
Beer and pizza will also be served the following day — after everything on the festival site is pulled apart and the site cleared for rubbish etc. Work will start much earlier that day — 6am — and all the volunteers will have to sign in for insurance and Covid reasons.
Graham Hunter, who has drawn up the safety plan for the festival for six years, said risks covered ranged from gas explosions, to terrorism and tsunamis — and more minor catastrophes of course. If the festival site has to be evacuated, people will congregate on the other side of the car park on Bent Street. People will be alerted by whistles and/or air horns, as well as the PA system if it is operating.
It was essential that two of the club’s defibrillators, now distributed around the district, were on-site for the festival and that they all had up-to-date (i.e. fully charged) batteries.