Puffing Billy Running Festival
Belgrave, Australia • 12-13 Sep 2026
Puffing Billy Running Festival
The Puffing Billy Running Festival is a community running event held in and around Emerald Lake Park in the Dandenong Ranges. It includes a point to point course between Belgrave and Emerald Lake Park as well as shorter loop and park events.
Event distances include:
- 13.5 km Classic from Belgrave to Emerald Lake Park
- 5 km Family Fun Run in Emerald Lake Park
- 1.2 km Junior Dash for younger participants
- New Balance Social Run
The festival features electronic timing and published results, finisher medals and certificates, bag drop, drink stations, on course first aid and on course road closures. Participants can race against Puffing Billy trains; race trains and return locomotive journeys are available for purchase and a free return bus shuttle is provided. On course photography is available for purchase and there is family entertainment at the finish line.
The event is run as a fundraiser. Proceeds support heritage restoration projects at Puffing Billy Railway. Puffing Billy Railway is a not for profit steam railway built in 1900 that runs on the original 24 kilometre mountain track between Belgrave and Gembrook and is supported by over 300 volunteers. Visit the organization's website for the most recent information.