Ellouise Crawford

CROWDS in pink will fill Clonlea Park on Sunday, marking the return of one of Gawler’s most supported events.
The Gawler Mother’s Day Classic will see Mums, Aunties, Grandmothers, friends and family, come together for a four kilometre ‘fun walk or run’, through Clonlea Park, Willaston.
Event director Renee Platt, of Platinum Body, said she’s excited to be bringing an in-person event back to Gawler, after last year’s pandemic had the classic go virtual.
“We missed an opportunity to fundraise last year so it will be really good to have another go at it,” she said.
“I always approach it from a mum’s point of view and instead of a just fun-run, it’s a fun day and there’s face painting, food stalls, coffee, music, and cookie decorating, plaster making and candle making for the kids.
“Just a really fun day of local businesses coming together and donating their time and their craft to give mum a Mother’s Day that means more.”
This will be the fifth year Gawler hosts a classic, having raised a combined $80,000 so far for the National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF).
In 2019, the local event raised $23,000 and took out the Gawler Community Event of the Year award.
“We raise those funds to try and come up with a preventative cure, so no one has to keep going through this,” Ms Platt said.
“We always start with a minute of silence to recognise survivors and those that haven’t survived, and even think it forward that one in seven will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their life-time.”
The Mother’s Day Classic is being held at more than 50 locations across the country, with Gawler one of only three (including Adelaide and Mount Gambier) in SA.
Registration can be done online (mothersdayclassic.com.au/sa-gawler) or at the on-site registration site on the day.
The four kilometre course is family, pram and wheelchair friendly, and will see participants take-off between 9 and 9.30am from Clonlea Park, heading two kilometres north along the North Para River before turning around.