Mega gallery: thousands roll out to find 'huge' inspiration at Stromlo Running Festival

Résumé détaillé

Check out the photos from the two-day festival of running.

Of the nearly 3000 participants in this weekend's Stromlo Running Festival, 60 Indigenous children from remote schools around the country enjoyed the experience of a lifetime.

They'd travelled to Canberra for the first time from nine remote schools in the Northern Territory, Western Australia, Queensland and South Australia for an important reason.

"Producing role models is the best part of this trip, but for these kids there's just the sheer geographical isolation which means they don't get as many opportunities as you would living in a capital city," Xavier Moloney, from Indigenous Communities for Activity and Nutrition (I-CAN), said.

Canberra sports legend Robert de Castella founded the Indigenous Marathon Foundation (IMF) which uses running to celebrate achievement and develop young leaders.

De Castella also helped establish the I-CAN program in remote schools which promotes attendance, health and pride to Indigenous kids.

Research suggests that the attendance rate is just 66 percent in remote communities in Australia, compared to 89 per cent in major cities.

Through the Indigenous Marathon Foundation and I-CAN initiatives, on Saturday 60 children from remote areas such as the Kimberley, Arnhem Land and Cape York regions of Australia, will compete in the I-CAN Championships, a traditional Indigenous games event where one team will be crowned winners.

Then on Sunday the group aged 9 to 13 years old will take on Stromlo Forest Park's 2.5km kids course.

"They're all really good at running in our program where we test for aerobic endurance capability or in school run clubs.

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