A HEAVY downpour gatecrashed the popular Newcastle Running Festival on Sunday, but the rain did not stop participants having fun.
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There were plenty of smiles on the other side of the finish line as runners congratulated each other on some fantastic results.
This year, the festival included four events: the inaugural 42.2km marathon, 21km half marathon, 10km Hill-2-Harbour and 5km classic.
About half of the festival's 3300 participants signed up for the Newcastle Herald Hill-2-Harbour fun run from Bar Beach to Newcastle Foreshore.
Retired champion long distance runner Scott Westcott, of Adamstown, won the men's event and Newcastle's Colleen West was the winner of the women's.
While most were untroubled by the rain, it did cause havoc for the event organisers.
More than 5.8 millimetres of rain fell in the eight minutes before 10.30am, soaking Foreshore Park.
Cars became bogged and the power blew out, meaning the festival presentation was cancelled because the results were unable to be tallied.
The full list of results were printed in yesterday's edition of the Newcastle Herald.
■ RACE WINNERS
MARATHON
Craig McCredie - 2:39.55
Rebecca McGrath - 2:49.51
HALF MARATHON
Satoshi Ashida - 1:21.47
Stephanie Auston - 1:22.59
10km HILL TO HARBOUR
Scott Westcott - 0:32.46
Colleen West - 0:42.45
5km Fort 5
Greg Wilson - 0:17.58
Amy Walker - 0:19.47