For the first time since before the pandemic, competitors have run, walked and wheeled the iconic Dubbo Stampede course.
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Among the 1,500-odd runners this year was Irish-Australian woman Kathryn Kenealy who held an Irish flag high as she passed through the finish line for 21.1 kilometre Zebra Zoom.
This is Ms Kenealy's second Dubbo Stampede, after completing the full marathon last year.
"I struggled on the full last year because it was outback, outback - the course was different last year because of the flooding," she said.
"It's hard to run in the heat as well."
Ms Kenealy travelled from Sydney to Dubbo for the event with a group of friends including ParkRun royalty Kathy Rae, who has been doing fun runs since 1977 and has joined over one hundred ParkRun groups.
Ms Rae decided to walk the 5.3 kilometre Dingo Dash event this year.
"We all did ParkRun in Dubbo yesterday, I did it for the 378th time and I've visited 115 different locations including Narromine," she said.
"I started when the first ParkRun came to Sydney and was at the launch of Dubbo ParkRun when they started eight years ago ... it's a great run along the river."
Unfortunately, due to illness on the course, pal Paul Rainbow was unable to complete the full 42.2 kilometre Rhino Ramble but was pleased with his effort to make it 24 kilometres - more than a half marathon.
"I had to pull out ... before I started I already knew I wasn't feeling well, but I thought I would give it a go anyway," he said.
After six months of work getting the event planned for this year, Dubbo Stampede vice president Katie Lyons said she was pleased to see so many people had travelled into Dubbo for the event.
"We're nearly up to pre-COVID numbers again, we've had 1,530 entries this year across the five events which is fantastic," she said.
"We get our regulars who come every year and have done all of the Stampedes from 2012 when we first started and then we get a heap of new entrants every year who travel from all around Australia to be here.
It's a very popular event on the running calendar and the Western Plains Zoo is a really special place to hold an event like this."
Ms Lyons said it was great to see the Stampede on its iconic course again after the COVID-19 pandemic sent the event virtual in 2020 and 2021 and then, last year, the course had to be changed due to flooding.
"This is the first time in four years we have been able to get back to the traditional track," she said.
"It's been absolutely fantastic."
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