Race Director Magazine - Winter 2021

A LOCAL CELEBRATION Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon got creative to capture 2021 race day action

By Leah Etling Without a top shelf professional elite field at the 2021 Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon, the focus was all local this fall.

The pandemic-prompted change for the event, which typically draws top elite runner talent lured by an attractive professional prize purse, allowed Twin Cities in Motion (TCM) to experiment with creative concepts for documenting on-course action and producing a post-race recap.

In a normal year, a lead vehicle with a commentator providing live updates on moves within the field would share the play-by-play for broadcast at the finish line. But this year, that aspect was absent.

“In some ways this reminded me of races before there was prize money and before this wonderful sport of ours evolved into all the things it has become today,” said Charlie Mahler, senior media and communications manager for Twin Cities in Motion. “There was a different story this year. So, we asked ourselves: how do we tell it?”

The answer was to adopt a bit of a DIY (do it yourself) approach. That started way before race day, when top runners for the seeded event were registering. To get to know their top local athletes, TCM asked them to answer questions on self-recorded video.

“It’s an overused phrase, but it would mean the world,” said Charlie 16 | RACE DIRECTOR MAGAZINE