Last year’s festival had 1701 entrants, an increase of 912 from the year before, and earned almost $10,000 for charity.

With the 2014 festival just six weeks away, Roweth said organisers could  do little but hope numbers would be close to the same.

“It is a bit of an unknown quantity at the moment,” Roweth explained.

“From memory the current number of entrants is hovering around the 400 mark, so we are hoping it gets up around last year but there is also a triathlon on that day which might sap our numbers a bit.”

The festival will be played out over two days, February 22 and 23, and runners can enter in any of the eight available events.

There are the usual two kilometre, five kilometre and 10 kilometre events, along with the half marathon.

The full marathon will also be held, for the just the second time, and Roweth is hoping the long run might drag in some extra contestants.

This year the festival will feature just one new event, the aptly named Insanity Challenge.

Roweth explained the new race had been introduced purely to prevent congestion at the finish line, but was fast becoming the most talked about event on the program.

“Basically competitors would race their events back-to-back,” Roweth explained.

“They can do the five kilometre, 10 kilometre and marathon as one example. That’s the worst one too, they’d be racing 57 kilometres in one go. I guess it’s called the Insanity Challenge for a reason.”

There is also the Business Challenge, Sports Challenge and Schools Challenge for teams to compete in.

Once again a percentage of the overall takings will be given to charity, this year to the Rural Fire Service and 2nd Orange Scouts.

Entries for the Colour City Running Festival close on January 21.