RUNNING the New York Marathon and climbing Mount Kilimanjaro are two arduous tasks.

Imagine taking them on blind.

That is exactly what members of the Achilles Running Club have done - and now they have the Colour City Running Festival in their sights.

The club is designed to get its members, who are predominantly blind, out and involved in the community through participation in fun runs, organising jogs and generally enjoying themselves in a social environment.

Achilles Running Club events coordinator Charlie McConnell says the club is excited about the prospect of participating in Sunday’s event.

“We looked around for an event and found the festival in Orange,” McConnell said.

“It’ll be a whole new experience for a lot of the members. Most of them haven’t been to the country let alone Orange, so they’re all very excited.”

The vision-impaired runners are accompanied by a guide, attached by a piece of string from one runner’s finger to the other.

The guide is required to shout instructions in order to help the runners complete the race unscathed.

The severity of a bend in the road, whether they are about to run on grass or gravel, or even if the pair are about to run up or down a hill are all instructions a guide must pass on to their partner.

McConnell hopes by participating in tomorrow’s festival, he and his fellow runners will raise awareness for the visually-impaired community.

“We’re about showing the community that vision-impaired people don’t have to just sit at home,” he said.

“I’m not sure if there are many blind people in Orange but if there are, it’d be great to see them down at the festival.

“We’re always looking for new members and volunteers to be guides.”

Achilles will have one runner and one walker in the 10km event, while a large group will be participating in the 4.5km run.