Quick As Thieves race raises $600,000 for charity

The 2021 Quick As Thieves marathon raced past expectations.

Held Nov. 26 in south Melbourne, this year’s fun run raked-in more than $600,000, well ahead of the $500,000 fundraising target and more than double the take from 2020.

Currently, the pot has swelled to $606,000, with 100% of those funds going directly to The Fred Hollows Foundation, a charity which focuses on treating preventable blindness and other related vision problems.

The Foundation has said this money will help kick-start programs they’d put on hold due to the pandemic, says a rep for the fundraiser.

This time, more than 300 participants from the electronic music community took part in either a half (21.1km), a full (42.2km) or an ultra (63.3km) marathon, starting and finishing at Riva in St Kilda.

All runners raised money through sponsorship, and they hit the pavement with at least six months training.

According to reps, the inaugural Quick As Thieves marathon in 2020 gathered 140 runners, and raised over $262,000.

Mike Toner runs the 2021 Quick as Thieves marathon

The brainchild of Thick As Thieves boss Mike Toner, the annual run gives the music industry a health goal to work towards, in addition to raising money for good causes.

Toner, the Donegal, Ireland-born, Melbourne-based promoter, event creator, and DJ, again laced up the trainers, on this occasion completing the full marathon course blindfolded with a guide, to highlight the challenges facing sight-impaired people.

Other runners include DJ and producers such as Jack Glass (Bag Raiders), Nick Drabbe (Set Mo), Generik, Torren Foot, Benson & Sunshine, plus industry execs Ming Gan (owner, Fuzzy Entertainment), Stuart Balfour (agent of Fisher & Manager of Hot Dub Time Machine) and Monty McGaw (talent buyer, Untitled Group).

Superstar British DJ Carl Cox was on presentation duties for the day.

Since 2015, Toner, friends and colleagues have raised upwards of $1 million for The Fred Hollows Foundation.

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This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.