Credit: Two Harbors Chamber
Some call it health promotion. To others, it’s part of an already high level of fitness – one more race on the calendar. For cities, it is becoming a staple of economic development and exposure that is as sure to grow as an oak springs from an acorn.
The trend is the local marathon, duathlon or triathlon. Participants have more than options than ever, as old marathons today compete with new ones. Distance running has a foothold in Minnesota high school athletics, so even charity 5k and 10ks are filled with serious runners who are under 18, yet these events also attract runners in their 50s, 60s and 70s, who joined the organized running movement at its inception in the 1970s.
Registration and promotion has never been easier. Technology processes your fee, helps a runner train at any level and provides last minute information about the day’s conditions. Sponsors are anxious to support healthy activities and encourage training for them. Fifty of them lined up last week to make the second running of the Mankato Marathon a success.
Marketers, retailers and sponsors are building a community around each actual event. From finish line photos to well-planned routes, these are events that can help a runner at any level improve and feel more accomplished. Choices abound as the duathlon (run-bike-run) and triathlon (swim-bike-run) offer variety beyond distance running. This allows any community in the state to take advantage of its own amenities, crafting something that is unique. One triathlon includes a snowshoeing portion.
In the eyes of economic developers, this is an opportunity to build repeat engagement and focus energies on continued improvement of an event that culminates in one busy flurry of energy. Last year’s grand scale Chicago Marathon attracted 45,000 runners, 1.7 million spectators and reported its economic impact at $171.5 million. Grandma’s Marathon of Duluth, in its 34th year, registered more than 5600 participants and can track an annual economic impact of $8 million.
These events are good for business, can be great for local charities and certainly offer a health benefit that comes only with preparing and achieving a personal performance goal. Like any worthy endeavor, there has to be a core of visionaries to see the benefit for all who are a part of it, and a cadre of true believers willing to sell sponsorships and build websites. The founders of Grandma’s surely had no idea their project would grow to such an impact. At a time when local and independent businesses in communities of all sizes are looking for a boost, organizers should recognize there is great fuel just waiting for their spark.
