ONE of Portland’s biggest sporting events of the year is set for this weekend with the 3 Bays Running Festival ready to return after a three-year hiatus.

Despite not running since 2019 the event will return in full force with some big names included in this year’s line-up of runners.

The festivities will kick off tomorrow with the 60km ultra-marathon along the Great South West Walk before the traditional 3 Bays events, including the marathon, taking place on Sunday.

This year the courses have been shifted slightly with all of the events crossing the finish line among the Upwelling Festival along the Portland foreshore.

Tomorrow’s ultra-marathon will be run for the third time in its history, with the event beginning in 2018.

Race director Tony Curran, from the Portland Runners Club, said there is a big field for tomorrow’s events with plenty of hype for its return.

“Numbers have been pretty good across the board and they’re still coming in,” he said.

“We have at least 60 people registered for the ultra, so that’s great.

“There is only about 25 people registered for the marathon on the Sunday but we expect at least 10 or so people will jump in that after running the ultra on Saturday.”

For those who are daring enough, they can take part in the Hybrid Fool challenge, which includes running the 60km ultra-marathon on Saturday and backing it up with the 42.2km marathon on Sunday.

Runners travel from across the state to participate in the weekend’s events, with four-time 3 Bays marathon winner David Staehr signed up for Sunday to try and claim a record-breaking fifth win as well as Port Fairy athlete Jason Daye who is competing tomorrow.

Daye has had a solid few months of running, competing in the Melbourne Marathon just one month ago and finishing in a blistering time of two hours and 29 minutes to come 13th.

It will be his first time participating in the 3 Bays event and will do so at the same time as his 68-year-old father Ian, who is also taking part in the ultra.

“I’ve been in Port Fairy for about three years now and I guess with COVID and everything I haven’t had the chance to do it,” he said.

“The event has a bit of a reputation as one of the best running events around so I’m excited to give it a go.”

Backing up from a marathon just one month prior is no easy feat with Daye saying he has taken it slow the past few weeks.

“I should be right… hopefully. One month in between isn’t ideal but I’ll see how I go,” he said.

“One week after the marathon I just did recovery and then I was out running again but doing a lot of slow running and then for the past two and a half weeks I’ve been building up.”

Also tackling the ultra tomorrow will be Daye’s father.

“Yeah dad, Ian, is planning on doing the ultra – he’s 68, give or take a few years,” he said.

“He’ll do a combination of running and walking but he gets them done – he’s a relentless old man.”

The ultra-marathon kicks off at the Bridgewater Lakes at 6.30am tomorrow with runners expected to start crossing the finish line around midday.

On Sunday there will be the marathon, half marathon, quarter marathon and relay events across the day.

Grandson runs marathon in memory of co-founder

Co-founder of the Portland 3 Bays Marathon, Don Bloomfield, will be in plenty of minds on Sunday when his grandson, Marcus Alexander, runs the marathon for the first time in his honour.

Bloomfield, who passed away a few years ago, was one of the founders of the marathon alongside Graeme Hoffmann and Digby Jessop.

Alexander, who grew up in Portland and is now based in Adelaide, said the idea to run the marathon had been there for a while but kept getting put on hold.

“It wasn’t planned particularly for this year,” he said.

“Just before pa died Lael (Alexander’s mum) said she was going to do the half marathon so I surprised them both and came down and ran it and once I crossed the finish line pa drove me back to Lael and I finished with her as well.

“After that I told pa I’d run the marathon in his name. I planned on doing it last year but then I got injured and COVID happened so I couldn’t, I feel a little bit more prepared this year.”

It is Alexander’s first marathon as the self-declared non-runner says he is just excited to do something that honours his grandfather’s memory.

“With pa he was always interested in what we were doing, which was motocross at the time,” he said.

“We always knew he was a runner and really involved, I’m definitely not a runner, but I didn’t go too badly with the half marathon and it made him pretty excited so I thought I’d give it a go.

“He gave a lot to Portland and the running community and there are people coming from all around to be a part of Sunday and just share in his memory.

“He was a really social guy and so that’s what it’s all about, getting together, having a bit of gratitude and doing something he’d be proud of.”