A series of distance running events has been added to the popular Port Douglas Gran Fondo Festival.

The festival, which will be held in September, has added 2km, 5km, 10km and 21.1km running events to the program, which already includes a series of cycling races.

Runners will follow a track along the Port Douglas wharf area, Flagstaff Hill, along Four Mile Beach and through the Sheraton Grand Mirage Resort, which has signed up as a major sponsor of the events.

Festival director Bade Stapleton said during the launch he had already received a call from an interested couple from the US, and he expected more international runners to come on board.

“We’re expecting people to be coming from Japan, we’ve got a marketing campaign to attract those people,” Stapleton said.

Tourism Tropical North Queensland’s Tara Bennett said sports tourism now made up about 10 per cent of global tourism spending, and the event was hoping to tap into that trend.

“Port Douglas just fits perfectly with the profile we’re seeing in the growth of sports tourism,” Bennett said.

Latest research by travel analyst Expedia showed 44 per cent of sports fans travelled internationally for events, she said.