Mill Race Marathon registrations moving ahead of last year’s totals

Registration for the 2016 Mill Race Marathon has surpassed last year’s totals — so far — by 27 percent for all four running events combined.

The number of young runners who have signed up to participate in the Kids Fun Run has nearly tripled this year, with 87 youngsters registered for the Sept. 23 race as of last Wednesday, compared to 33 who were registered at this time last year.

Participation in one of the three races on Sept. 24 — the marathon, half marathon or 5K — is also flying past last year’s numbers, with 798 runners already signed up for one of the Saturday races, compared to 663 who were registered at this time last year.

But marathon marketing and promotions coordinator Erica Tucker said it is still too early to tell if the current registration trends will get the marathon committee to its goal of seeing 5,000 runners finish one of the three Saturday races.

For more on this story, see Wednesday’s Republic.