Preparations on track for the 2023 Wollongong Running Festival

The 14^th edition of the Wollongong Running Festival (previously named the Bulli Burn) will get under way on Sunday morning. As the countdown continues until this year's action, here is everything you need to know about the event.

The Wollongong Running Festival is one of the Illawarra's premiere community running events and takes place in support of Lifeline South Coast.

There will be something on offer for people of all ages and abilities with the kids 2km fun run, the Mark Scott 5km run, a 10km run and a half-marathon (21.1km) course to be held.

The 5km run is held in honour of inaugural Bulli Burn winner and Illawarra triathlete Mark Scott, who is still recovering after suffering a serious cycling accident in late 2012.

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"Preparations have been fantastic, we've had a really great response this year," Wollongong Running Festival's event director Angela Saville said.

"We've got a bigger team working on it this year and I think the community is ready to get involved and have a good time on Sunday. It's a real family event, we have something for the little ones all the way to our older adults so there's an event for everyone.

"The event originally started with just the 5km, but during that time we've been able to add the additional events."

The festival originally took place in Bulli, but the event has been held in North Wollongong for the past three years.

"We start down at JP Galvin Park, which is part of Stuart Park," Saville said.

"We head up and wrap up around the Blue Mile, and then we head out north through Puckey's and come back through Puckey's Estate.

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"We transitioned to North Wollongong because we really wanted to work on making it a major event for the area. It's a phenomenally beautiful course, so I think once word gets out, we will continue to people who aren't from the region.

Sunday's event is expected to draw a mix of amateur and professional runners.

"We've had a heap of elite athletes coming in the last few years, with the addition of the half-marathon, but we find it's probably the 10km that draws them in," Saville said.

"It has heavily been a local event, but this year we have people from Canberra and Sydney coming, so we're really getting some interest from some of these elite running areas.

"We're expecting around 1500 runners, walkers and participants across the four events on Sunday."

Anyone wishing to take part in this year's festival can register up until Sunday morning.

"The half-marathon is now at capacity, so there won't be any registrations available for that," Saville said.

"But there are definitely room in the other events, and we'd love to see people come down and join us."

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