General News
9 May, 2026
Horsham set for Mother's Day Classic
With Mother’s Day just around the corner, Horsham residents are being encouraged to lace up and take part in the 2026 Mother’s Day Classic this Sunday, May 10, at the Horsham Soundshell.
The annual walk and run raises funds for breast and ovarian cancer research, with registrations opening at 7.30am, the opening ceremony starting at 8.30am, and the walk/run beginning at 9am.
One of the organisers, Jackie Exell, said the committee had listened to community feedback and made some changes to this year’s event.
“So we’ve taken on a lot of community feedback this year from previous events, and we’ve actually gone back to basics this year,” she said.
“We are really focusing on registrations, having a bit of fun, raising a bit of money.”
Ms Exell said organisers wanted to keep the morning simple, positive and on schedule.
“The last couple of years we’ve run a little bit late with our opening ceremony, so we’re going to make sure that that starts on time,” she said.
She said one of the changes this year was keeping the raffle open beyond event day.
“What we’ve actually done this year is we’re going to keep the raffle open until the end of May, and we’ll draw it at the end of May,” she said.
“It’ll be open until the 31st of May, and it’ll be drawn on the 2nd of June.
“So people don’t have to sort of rush along.”
The online raffle features more than $2500 in prizes, supported by Mackay’s Family Jewellers, Emma Kealy, Helloworld Horsham, and Salon Mode Horsham.
Ms Exell said people could also buy raffle tickets at the event on Sunday.
“They’ll be able to purchase them on the day on Sunday,” she said.
She said the highlight of the event would be the community spirit and the chance for people to come together for an important cause.
“I think the common theme there is that it’s just a really beautiful positive morning where people can get together and whether that’s starting a new tradition of spending that time with the family and that sort of thing, but just really about everyone supporting each other,” she said.
Registrations are already strong, with about 200 people signed up.
“Registrations look really good at the moment,” she said.
“We usually have between 200 and 300 people there, so I don’t see any reason why this year would be any different.”
She encouraged people across Horsham and the wider Wimmera community to support the event, even if they could not attend on the day.
“If they’re not able to be there on the day, but they still want to support the event, by all means jump online and grab the raffle ticket,” she said.
Ms Exell said the cause continued to touch many families.
“You sort of don’t have to go far to find someone who has been affected by breast or ovarian cancer, and even while we were selling raffle tickets over the weekend in the plaza, we heard some really beautiful stories from people,” she said.
The Mother’s Day Classic began in 1998 and has since grown into a national movement, attracting more than 1.8 million participants and donating $50.8 million to breast and ovarian cancer research.
People can register or find more information at mothersdayclassic.com.au.