Local podiatrist urges community to support ‘great’ Toowoomba marathon event

 Local podiatrist Pieter Van Der Kooji ran the Toowoomba marathon in 2025 and will return this year to take on the half marathon and potentially the relay race.

Running alongside him is Dr Natasha Graves, and they’ll be fundraising for the Toowoomba Hospital Foundation.

“She said ‘yep, cool, I’ll jump on board.’ I asked her as it’s always easier to fundraise with other people,” he said.

“Natasha is a doctor that works in oncology, so we see the benefits of exercising and just how important our health is.”

Mr Van Der Kooji runs interval training on a Tuesday evening at Queens Park, as part of the Toowoomba Road Runners.

“Probably more so than ever, we’ve had more people that have never run before. They have started coming to run club and wanted to get a bit fitter,” he said.

“It’s a great place where people can come and just have some people to run with that is safe and inclusive.”

Mr Van Der Kooji is also a physiotherapist, so has the capacity to help those at the club with injuries and niggles.

“You know what most people do when they start running in an interval group? They compete with everyone else,” he said.

“If you’ve got somebody that hasn’t run much in their life and they’re coming and they’re running with people that have run their whole life, people get through the honeymoon period, they get injured and they never come back. We try really hard to foster people for the first six weeks.”

For anyone wanting to start running or signing up for some of the smaller events at this year’s festival, Mr Van Der Kooji said the best thing to do is be consistent and to join a running club.

“Find a beginner running program so that you don’t go too quick,” he said.

“Most people will do the first three weeks and feel great. But if they don’t know to massage their legs or go too hard, then you start seeing shin splints and injuries.

“Pace yourself, be patient and know that the longer you do it, the easier it’s going to get.”

Mr Van Der Kooji also wanted the community to come out and support the event.

“There are complaints about shutting down the town for a running event on a Sunday from 5.30am until probably 10am” he said.

“I think it’s just really important to understand how fortunate we are to have such an event in the middle of our town.

“I would really encourage people to get out and support it, realise that it’s not something that is around all the time and if it doesn’t get supported it probably won’t keep going ahead.

“I wish that people could actually realise that it’s a great community event to improve people’s fitness and encourage people to be part of a healthy community.”

There is still time to sign up to the marathon, and you can enter by heading to https://toowoombarunningfestival.com.au/enter/

Originally published as Local podiatrist urges community to support ‘great’ Toowoomba marathon event