The 2011 Event Guide – It’s our biggest annual calendar yet!
Welcome to our biggest event guide ever! We have approximately 700 running and multi-sport events on this year’s calendar. Five kilometers is the most popular distance for runners and walkers in Colorado, but you’ll find many other interesting and unusual events to capture your attention as well, from multi-day stage races to short one milers. There are more events competing for your consideration than ever before, not just in Colorado, but across the nation. According to Running USA, a nonprofit organization representing the running industry, U.S. road running finishers have grown from 7,502,000 to 10,290,000 in the past decade. That’s a 37 percent increase. In 2009, event finisher totals exceeded the 10 million mark for the first time.
As I was typing this year’s calendar into the magazine, I personally was surprised at the increase in the number of marathons in Colorado. There are now 25 marathons, including four newcomers for 2011 with the introduction of the Moutaineer Marathon (Lake City), Arkansas Bluegrass Marathon (Salida), Aspen Back Country Marathon (Aspen) and the Autumn Color Marathon (Buena Vista). A marathon is always a rigorous undertaking, but Colorado race directors seem intent to really challenge participants with so many events taking place in the mountains, adding the additional challenge of altitude and extreme inclines to the mix.
Across the nation, marathoning continues to grow. The most recent statistics released by the website MarathonGuide.com reveal that there was a 9.9% growth rate in the number of marathon finishers from 2008 to 2009. In total, the website reports that nearly 468,000 marathon finishing times were recorded in the USA among 397 marathons.
I recently was given the opportunity to run the USA Half Marathon Championships in Houston, Texas in January. I lined up among some of the nation’s fastest runners, such as Ryan Hall and Jen Rhines. (Of course, I only saw their backs after the gun went off since I finished a good 30 minutes after the top runners!) Many elites were on hand from Colorado to perform a dress rehearsal for what will be next year’s U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials course. The course will be spectator friendly, but not a quick course for the athletes, with rolling hills and sharp turns. Ryan Hall set an American record on the Aramco Houston Half Marathon course in 2007 with a blazing 59:43, so the spectators in Houston had high expectations for how fast the runners should finish. I heard many spectators say they were disappointed that the course seemed so slow. The race officials say they designed the course to mimic the Olympic Marathon route in London. I think the benefit will be that running fans will get to see their favorite runners pass by several times before the finish.
Happy trails!
Derek