COVID concerns and the closure of the Victoria-NSW border have forced organisers to cancel the physical City2City run.
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Instead, an exciting month-long virtual event will take place with weekly prizes.
City2City committee chair Michelle Hudson said the committee discussed having the run on one side of the border, but felt it wasn't right for the event.
"We really felt the heart of City2City is that cross-border approach that brings two cities together," she said.
"It really wouldn't be City2City if it was run in just one state or city."
When the checkpoints between NSW and Victoria came down last year, organisers were optimistic a COVID-safe event could take place with incremental start times for participants.
But the recent decision by Victoria to close its border to NSW dashed those hopes.
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Mrs Hudson said the committee investigated how the event could go ahead but given all pedestrians must show ID at the Victorian border, crossing state lines into Wodonga wasn't going to be conducive to a timed running event.
Similarly, reversing the race so it ran from Victoria to NSW would mean residents would need to cross the border into Wodonga before the event began.
"What if the checkpoints were busy and they missed their start time?," she said.
"There were too many logistical factors in the end, there was too much out of our control and we couldn't ensure we could stage a COVID-safe event.
"Given this event is a celebration of Albury Wodonga Health and a thank you, we didn't want to put the community at risk so the safest option was to move to a virtual format."
Far from being a disappointment the virtual event is a great opportunity, Mrs Hudson said
"It's a very positive opportunity, we're actually really excited for the virtual event and are putting in place a number of initiatives to make it a really fun and engaging event," she said.
The committee will be mapping a course on foot and bike paths adjacent to the usual road route, encouraging people to run the virtual course any time during February.
No prizes will be given for place-getters but the team challenge cup will go ahead.
Mrs Hudson said given the year the community had and the pandemic it was very fitting for proceeds to go to Albury Wodonga Health.
"The timing of this is perfect in terms of being an opportunity to say thank you to AWH and frontline workers," she said.
While it's hard to say how many people will participate Mrs Hudson said they were optimistic the virtual City2City would be well supported.
Registration for the event opens Monday.