The Stor-Age Festival of Running is upon us once more, and there is a great buzz of anticipation in the third year of the event, taking place on Saturday, 8 June at SuperSport Park.

The Festival caters for runners of every level from social to elite and offers three different formats to choose from; namely the Solo Challenge, Relay and Schools Challenge.

“The format for the event is very similar to last year, with participants challenging themselves to run 2KM laps in and around the SuperSport Park precinct within two hours,” Event Organiser Pierre Joubert explained.

“With great sponsors on board like Stor-Age, Garmin and Bacher and Co, the runners can look forward to some proper prizes on offer.”

The day’s mandate is to provide an atmosphere that has something for the whole family, and Joubert explained that there were a lot of ideas to keep young and old intrigued throughout the day.

“We are looking at making things a little bit more festive, with a kids area and a variety of food stalls. We really want people to stay there the whole day, and the key to that is having something for the whole family to do.”

Partnerships are fundamental in creating memorable events, and Joubert paid tribute to the support that SuperSport Park has got from their sponsors.

“They are essentially taking a shot in the dark, backing us to pull this off. They are also adding value with ideas on how to grow the event further,” Joubert pointed out.

The goal with the Stor-Age Festival of Running is to make it a firm favourite on the calendar, so this initial phase of building is fundamental in laying a strong foundation for the future.

“There is still plenty of room for improvement, as it is only in its third year. These things take time. The Comrades started with 16 runners, and a 100 years later, there are thousands. You have to start somewhere,” Joubert implored.

He is looking forward to the Relay in particular, which has been revised from a four-member to a  two-member team challenge. Having switched formats last year, and gone to a one-day event, there is a lot of intrigue in terms of growth year on year.

“Judging from people’s interest, in terms of finding out about it, there is a lot of optimism. We want it to be the place to be in Pretoria on that weekend,” he said of the event that falls the day before the Comrades.

For more details on the event, go to www.festivalrunning.com