The Mill Race Marathon will stay the course and use its namesake park in this year’s half- and full-marathon route one last time.
Louisville & Indiana Railroad and CSX officials have agreed not to send trains through Columbus during this year’s Sept. 22 marathon, which means the usual course can be utilized for the sixth and final time, race organizers said.
But beginning with the 2019 race, Mill Race Park will no longer be a part of the course as the railroad will not guarantee that northbound trains would be held back for the duration of the race.
“It’s nice of them to cooperate,” said Joel Sauer, Mill Race Marathon race director. “We’ve been on this course several years, and the plans for police, medical, everything is set. We’ve just been tweaking it year to year to make a few minor things better.”
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The final run through the park might lead to a few more registrations for nostalgia’s sake, organizers said.
Race organizers had been waiting for a decision from the railroad to determine when they would have to plan a new route.
Sauer said that can now be done over the winter. He will work with marathon committee member Randy Stafford, who measures the course, and be prepared with a new course in place for 2019.
Removing Mill Race Park from the course means the route will lose about three-quarters of a mile that needs to be added somewhere else on the course, he said.
“But when you’re looking at 26 miles, it’s actually only affected the first two or three miles,” he said.
Marathon organizers have known since 2014 that trains can have a disastrous effect on the race if the timing is wrong.
During the second Mill Race Marathon in 2014, a train engineer who thought he could get a train through Columbus before the race began caused havoc when runners tried to run around, through and over the train cars, which blocked the entrance into the park.
During the next few years, Louisville & Indiana and CSX committed to no train traffic from 5 to 11 a.m. on race day, but assurances were uncertain for this year.
Beginning this fall, as many as 22 fast-moving, heavier and longer trains will begin crossing through Columbus, and across where the tracks cut through the eastern side of Mill Race Park. The railroads are completing construction on a new railroad bridge over the Flatrock River. When the project is done, the increased train traffic will begin.
Stafford said he has been working to do measuring on a bicycle with a calibrated wheel to accurately record the distance needed for the marathon and the half. The process takes hours to ride the projected course to make sure it’s accurately measured and then more hours to draw maps and the new route.
While this year’s marathon and half marathon courses will stay the same, organizers are changing the 5k course this year — taking it out of Mill Race Park and instead sending runners north on Washington Street to do a loop around Donner Park, and then meet up with the half marathon course for the rest of the way.
The 5k start is also being moved up from 8 a.m. to 7:50 a.m. on race day, with the full and half marathons starting at the normal time of 7:30 a.m.
Sauer said an extended lag between the starts and wasn’t needed.
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Date: Sept. 22
Offered: Full marathon, half-marathon and 5K. A Kids’ Fun Run is offered the day before the race in Mill Race Park. The marathon is a qualifier for the Boston Marathon.
Where: Downtown Columbus for the start and finish, with the course winding through city neighborhoods
Sponsors: Cummins, German American Bank and Columbus Regional Health
Registration: To register, visit millracemarathon.com. The cost to register before June 30 is $70 for the marathon, $55 for the half marathon and $20 for the 5K. Prices go up after that.
Prizes: Each finisher receives a medal. Any participant who completes the marathon or half marathon is entered to win a Cummins-powered RAM 2500 Crew Cab heavy duty pickup, and the winner must be present to win at the Finish on Fourth After Party after the race. Participants who complete the 5K are eligible to win one of four bikes given away at the after party, and you must be present to win.
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Register at millracemarathon.com
Cost:
- $70 for marathon, $55 for half marathon and $20 for 5k through June 30
- $80 for marathon, $65 for half marathon and $25 for 5k through July 1-Aug. 31
- $95 for marathon, $80 for half marathon and $30 for 5k Sept. 1-20
- $110 for marathon, $95 for half marathon and $35 for 5k Sept. 21-22
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