Festival co-ordinator David Gibson, who ran the event with his wife Erin for the first time with the aid of a new committee, was thrilled with how the day panned out at the Bloomfield campus.

“We changed the date back by one weekend, that was to avoid a clash with a very large triathlon in Huskisson and we think that had a big influence on numbers,” Mr Gibson said.

Mr Gibson said about 2,000 competitors took part in this year’s running festival, about 300 more than last year.

“The biggest increase was definitely the 5km, which went from 700 people to over 1,000 and was a sellout for the first time ever,” he said.

“The half marathon was a sellout with 350 people.

“We’ve seen it go up in numbers and up in people doing longer races, which is fantastic.”

GALLERY: 2015 Orange Colour City Running Festival

Mr Gibson said the number of participants also increased in the marathon and the winner, Robert Woolley, told him afterwards it was a great event.

Mr Gibson said the marathon was in its third year and increased coverage in running magazines and on websites, and Orange being voted as one of the top 10 regional marathons in Australia for 2014 by Australian Marathon Reviews, also contributed to more elite runners taking part.

This year money raised from the running festival will go to the Rural Fire Service and the O’Brien Centre and, in turn for the donations, their volunteers helped martial the events.

“The other thing we want to remember is the support from all our volunteers and our committee. It’s a whole new committee this year and it’s the first time we’ve done it,” Mr Gibson said.

He said about 70 people helped at the festival.

“We want to see this event grow even further next year,” Mr Gibson said.

tanya.marschke@fairfaxmedia.com.au