The finish line is in sight for hundreds of school children from throughout the Bay of Plenty and Waikato as they take on the final leg of the Rotorua Mini Marathon.

Starting from Rotorua's Energy Events Centre the 1273 primary and intermediate students are running in the 42.2km challenge, aiming to encourage children to actively participate in a running programme.

The event is a collaborative project organised by Event Promotions, Events and Venues, and Sport Bay of Plenty with 26 schools taking part including Papamoa Primary School.

Between February and April the participants are required to track 40km of running with the final 2.1km being run on the actual Rotorua Marathon Course giving children the opportunity to experience the marathon atmosphere.

The event aims to encourage children to actively participate in a running programme and is proving to be increasingly popular with registrations increasing from 2013 with 411 more participants.

Sport Bay of Plenty Primary School Events coordinator Jeni Nunn says with the large jump in numbers teachers are seeing the event's benefits for children to ‘give a marathon a go' receiving their own race bib and participation certificate.

'For some the distance can be a struggle but the huge support they get along the course is fantastic and the reward on their face says it all,” says Jeni.

'One key aspect of the Rotorua Mini Marathon is the Mini Marathon Passport. Registered children are sent Passports to track their kilometres leading up to the event, each time they complete 1km they tick it on their passport and can see how many kilometres they have run over several weeks.

'It's really great to ‘see' how much running they have done and it is a great way to keep the momentum up.”