ATHLETICS: The Whitsunday Running Club will be well represented in the Athletics North Queensland Marathon Championships on July 21.

Three of their members have already registered for the marathon.

Julie Cauchi and Chris Harvey will be running their first marathon as part of the Cruise Whitsundays Airlie Beach Running Festival.

Julie and Chris are popular members of the Whitsunday Running Club and train regularly in the early hours of the morning on Sundays, Tuesday and Thursdays.

Justin Knight-Gray is the third member of the club that has signed up.

Justin is a veteran marathon runner and recently completed the Tokyo and Newcastle Marathons.

He finished third last year in the Airlie Beach Marathon in his quickest time to date and will be looking to improve on that.

The inaugural winner of the 2016 marathon, Deb Mayne from Airlie Beach is also an early entry in this year's event.

Event manager Tim McQuoid-Mason said entries in all races were steadily coming in and it looked like it would be another great field this year.

The Corporate Team Challenge, where each runner completes 5km in a team environment, is proving to be popular with up to 10 people able to register and dress up for the day.

The Whitsunday Times 2km Primary School Challenge is also well supported and provides a wonderful opportunity for the school with the highest percentage of participation to win $500 towards sports equipment.

The Cruise Whitsundays Half Marathon Relay where each of the three runners completes 7km has entries in all categories: Mixed, Female and Male.

Register for the popular event, which is drawing closer, here.