Organisers made the decision to expand the range of events, including a full marathon distance for the first time and more than 50 enthusiastic competitors signed up to take on the 42.2 kilometre distance.

The half marathon also proved extremely popular with approximately 250 entries.

However, it was the shorter 5.5km and 10km events that proved to be the most popular with almost 2500 entries.

“It really has been a fantastic day.

“We have seen some great times in events and everyone really enjoyed themselves,” Stampede president Tim Ferraro said.

In its third year, the Stampede faced its biggest test with several other events scheduled to take place around NSW, including the established Edgell Jog.

Despite the congestion and competition, the Dubbo event increased its popularity.

Mr Ferraro said the committee was eager to avoid a repeat of the clash next year.

“We started with 1500 runners in our first year and last year we grew that to 2500 so we have increased our participation again by 500 and we are very happy with that,” he said. 

“One thing we would really like to do next year is to work with other towns to come up with a calendar that works for everybody.

GALLERY: Dubbo Stampede 2014 Mega Gallery

“There were a lot of runners from Orange who were interested in coming over but went to Bathurst instead so there were another couple of hundred entries we could have had.

“The running calendar is pretty chockers but if we can work with the likes of Bathurst, Orange, Mudgee and Parkes then we 

can come up with something that works for runners and events.”

Mr Ferraro said the stampede had grown in three years.

“This event competes with running festivals everywhere. We might not be getting 80,000 people like the Sydney running festival but in terms of entry fees and professionalism of the organisation, we think its very good,” he said.

“The committee has an ambitious agenda to grow the event but we want to do that without sacrificing the quality of it. There are challenges with fitting 5000 people into the zoo and we want to make sure we do things right.”

There was a small hiccup with some participants taking a wrong turn and going off course. Mr Ferraro said it was unfortunate and he said the organisation took every effort to sign post where runners go.

To make up for the incident, those participants were given a refund and entry into next year’s race.

The organisers are confident the event will continue to grow in 2015.

“We made a 1000 small changes between last year and this year and we will do the same thing again for the next one. The feedback we have had has been great and with 3000 participants, this would be the single biggest participation event in Dubbo,“ Mr Ferraro said.

“We will keep trying to make it better.”

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