Runners begin the Mill Race Half Marathon in Columbus, Ind., Saturday, Sept. 25, 2021.
The Republic file photo
After seeing participation fall off by nearly a third last year, entrants for this year’s Mill Race Marathon, half marathon and 5K are up slightly over the 2021 numbers.
As of last week, 142 runners had signed up for the full marathon, 643 were registered for the half marathon and 253 were entered in the 5K, all of which will take place on Sept. 24. The 1,038 total was a little more than the 1,026 that had registered by the same time last year.
The half marathon has been selected by the Road Runners Club of America as the 2022 Indiana Half Marathon State Championship. The Mill Race half marathon also served as the state championship in 2015, but this is the first time the Mill Race committee has applied to host the state event since then.
“They like to move it around the state, and then with 2020 and 2021 with COVID, nobody really thought about those things,” race director Randy Stafford said. This is the first year we’re starting to get back on track to look at those state championship events. There’s a new RRCA state representative, and I was talking with her early in the year, and she was talking about trying to get more clubs and races involved, and they did not have anybody applying to be the state championship race. So she and I corresponded a little bit, and I went ahead and sent in the application.”
The 26.2-mile marathon course, 13.1-mile half marathon course and 3.1-mile 5K course all have been certified. With the certification, runners who achieve a qualifying time for the Boston Marathon will be eligible to run the iconic race, pending Boston’s lottery system.”
“It’s always been a certified course,” Stafford said. “Anytime we change the course, I just have to take the measurements and send them in. Once the measurements are sent in, it takes awhile to get certified. Every time you change the course, it has to be measured again, so that certification is now done.”
This year’s marathon course will follow the half marathon course for the first nearly 13 miles. The second loop of the marathon will be a little different. Runners won’t go across the bridges on Second and Third streets and instead will make an extra out-and-back on the north side of the city.
“There’s some really nice shaded areas in that area of the people trail, so that will be really nice for the runners,” Stafford said.
The full marathon is back this year after not being contested the past two years. None of the races were contested in-person in 2020 because of the COVID pandemic, and the full marathon was canceled last year because of a shortage of volunteers to cover the whole course.
With the majority of the two loops in the marathon being the same, not as many volunteers are needed as in previous years.
“(Runners) are very glad that it’s back, and people that I have talked to so far about the marathon being two-loop course, they’re very excited about that,” Stafford said.
