Police officers from across the state made their way to the Whitsundays to test their limits in a gruelling race with an altruistic goal in late July.
The annual Whitsunday’s Toughest Race was held on the Whitsunday Great Walk by Queensland Police Service in support of victims of domestic and family violence.
The race, which was held on July 30, included nine teams of Police Officers from across Queensland.
It is the second time that the event has been run by Proserpine police station, and often takes its competitors more than nine hours to complete.
The title for this year’s race remained with last year’s champions– a team from Bowen Police Station – who again claimed the bragging rights, completing the course in a new record time.
The first ever event was organised by Proserpine police Sergeant Mark Flynn, who said the idea behind the race has always been to raise funds for people in domestic and family violence situations.
“Funds raised from the race were used to purchase toys for children, and care packages for mothers,” Sergeant Flynn said.
“[The toys] are gifted to community members forced to seek emergency accommodation after experiencing domestic and family violence.”
On Tuesday, Sergeant Mark Flynn delivered the gifts to Whitsunday Counselling Service.
“In an act of wonderful generosity, Big W Whitsunday donated $3,500 worth of gifts in addition to those purchased by the police,” Sergeant Flynn said.
Sergeant Flynn said this year’s event had already grown exponentially on the last, and he hoped next year’s would be the same.
Proserpine Police Officers continued a new tradition of running the gruelling Whitsunday Great Walk in support of domestic and family violence victims, donating toys from the funds raised