Runners take off at the starting line of the 2021 Ascension Seton Austin Half Marathon Photo: Scott Flathouse
he moment we’ve all been waiting for has been happening in some cities across the country this spring: Running events are back. Often at reduced capacity, and with varying COVID-19 safety protocols, but from the perspective of runners and race directors alike, returning to live racing brings a huge sigh of relief. For the running industry, this is what normal looks like. “Runners want to do what they want to do. They’re not any different than bowlers or golfers. But we could have told them that they all had to wear jeans while running and they still would have come out to race,” joked Todd Oliver, president and race director of the Carmel Marathon in Carmel, Indiana. After being forced to cancel its 2020 event, the Carmel Marathon resumed on April 3, 2021 with reduced capacity, social distancing, masks and other safety protocols in place. Around 3,300 runners turned out for the Carmel Marathon’s marathon, half marathon, 10K and 5K. And make no mistake, they came to RUN. The average finish time for the marathon, which had over 1,000 finishers, was under 4 hours. (For those unfamiliar with the running universe, that’s an impressively fast average.) “When’s the last time a non-downhill marathon had an average finish time under 4 hours?” Oliver asked. “Everyone ran really hard. After training with no races for a year, they came to race.” When we chatted for this article shortly after the April event, Oliver was busy preparing for his next event, the Whitefish Marathon in Whitefish, Montana on May 22. A tiny event in a beautiful setting, this year the Whitefish event had already doubled its registered participants more than a
“WHEN’S THE LAST TIME A NONDOWNHILL MARATHON HAD AN AVERAGE FINISH TIME UNDER 4 HOURS? AFTER TRAINING WITH NO RACES FOR A YEAR, THEY CAME TO RACE.” - TODD OLIVER
RACE DIRECTOR MAGAZINE | 13
