By ALANA MITCHELSON
BEACONSFIELD Upper Primary School has won the prize for being the largest community group to complete the Upper Beaconsfield Tower Run for the second year in a row.
With the idea of keeping kids active in mind, school principal Nick Karanzoulis challenged his students last year to join him in the 6 kilometre “hilly“ fun run from the Upper Beaconsfield township to the iconic water tower and back.
To entice the students, he agreed that for every child who beat him, he would run the equivalent number of school oval laps.
Dozens of children were up for the healthy competition, and Mr Karanzoulis kept up his end of the bargain by running nine laps of the oval after nine of his students completed the course faster than him.
“It was a great experience for all of us involved. A little healthy competition is always a good thing,” he said.
Mr Karanzoulis set the challenge again this year, attracting such a vast crowd of students that the school again won the award for Most Participants From One Community Group and were presented with a $500 cheque from FCA Financial.
Upper Beaconsfield Village Festival marketing co-ordinator Michelle Greenshields said there was a steady jump in entries this year.
“We had 262 runners, and last year we had about 220 and that was the first time we cracked 200. It was the most successful of all the years,” she said.
“The run started 33 years ago to commemorate Ash Wednesday bushfires that devastated the area. A lot of the parents who participated were children themselves at the time, so it continues to be a meaningful event for the community.”
