Community
9 May, 2025
Let the good times roll
CAIRNS residents are joining their Tablelands’ counterparts today (Friday, May 9), as nearly 50 teams from across Far North Queensland come together to mark the beginning of 2025’s Mareeba and Dimbulah Community Bank Great Wheelbarrow Race.
The teams will travel 140km pushing wheelbarrows in turn across ‘The Wheelbarrow Way’ from Mareeba, making stops in Dimbulah and Almaden before crossing the Chillagoe finish line on Sunday (May 11).
With 49 teams registered, 2025’s race will see 21 Cairns-based teams compete in the annual event.
Held for the first time in 2007, the Mareeba to Chillagoe Great Wheelbarrow Race event follows the historical 19th-century ‘Wheelbarrow Way’ path, where limited transport and scarce work saw many miners and workers use the path to travel across the region, carrying all of their possessions in a wheelbarrow.
Now in its 18th year, the race has become a staple event for Mareeba and the Tablelands, with more people visiting the region to either spectate or compete every year.
Each having chosen a charity or local club, all 49 competing teams have been active in organising fundraisers and campaign events, working to raise as much money as possible before donating to their chosen organisation.
With one team member running with a wheelbarrow at a time, the race will see participants alternate possession of the wheelbarrow between members, each taking turns entering and exiting a moving team bus and wheeling the wheelbarrow alongside.
One of over 20 Cairns-based teams running in 2025’s race, the Sisterhood of the Travelling Wheelbarrow is running once again this year to raise money for Ruth’s Women’s Shelter Cairns.
Sisterhood of the Travelling Wheelbarrow Founder Karla Lord said this year’s team had a healthy combination of new runners and experienced racers.
“Each year I gather a team of amazing humans who are new and seasoned wheelbarrow runners, who come together and take on the challenge of the Great Wheelbarrow race,” she said.
Ms Lord said the team had been training extremely hard for the event.
“Our team trains for almost two hours every Wednesday afternoon,” she said.
“You may have seen us running laps of Tom Murray Park and the streets of Brinsmead.
“We run the race for an amazing cause, Ruth’s Women’s Shelter Cairns.
“Being a local of Cairns, and a woman, I am so thankful for their services to our community.”
