COVID-19 Important Event Updates

16 Mar 2020

Monday, 23rd of March 2020

It is with great sadness that we inform you that the 2020 Kokoda Challenges in Brisbane, Gold Coast and Melbourne are all cancelled.

To say that we are devastated would be a gross understatement; the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has had a far greater impact on Australia and the world than we think anyone could have ever imagined.

Our hearts are broken that we cannot proceed with the Kokoda Challenges or the Kokoda Challenge Youth Programs as we know how much it means to our wider Kokoda community but unfortunately, we simply have no choice.

We have compiled a list of FAQ’s and you can read the official statement from our Chairman on our below but we ask that you please be patient with us as we work through this difficult time.

We can’t express enough how upset we are to have made this call, so let’s please all do our part now in getting rid of this awful virus by staying clean, staying distant but always staying a COMMUNITY; Courage, Endurance, Mateship, Sacrifice.

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Wednesday, 18th of March 2020

Following the announcement of the Australia Government this morning regarding the ban of non-essential outdoor gatherings of 500 people or more effective immediately, our board of governance will be meeting later in the week to discuss next steps in regards to the Kokoda Challenge.

We appreciate your patience and understanding during this difficult time. As soon as we know what’s happening, we will communicate it to our valued Kokoda community.

Monday, 16th of March, 2020

 

Kokoda Youth Foundation has had a number of people contact us over the weekend with concerns regarding COVID-19 and the Kokoda Challenge events in Brisbane, Gold Coast and Melbourne. We have been working closely with the local government and medical professionals to assess the level of risk at our events, which has been identified as low-risk as it is held in the outdoors. Given the low-level of risk at each of our challenge events, all of the Kokoda Challenges will be going ahead as planned.  

 

There will be extra health and safety precautionary measures in place to further reduce the risk as the health and safety of our competitors, volunteers and staff is our number one priority. Having said that, the information we receive about this pandemic is continually changing and we are therefore reacting to new information on a day-to-day basis.

 

Being a registered charity, we are determined for our events to go ahead as we rely on your registration fees and fundraising to run our youth programs, we do not receive any government funding. In the worst-case scenario that we are forced not to run the challenges, our priority would be to postpone the events and reschedule to a later date as opposed to cancelling completely. We will keep you informed of any updates as we receive more information, if you have any questions or concerns then please do not hesitate to reach out to us.