Grand Rapids Marathon

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Grand Rapids Marathon
Grand Rapids Marathon Logo.jpg
The Metro Health Grand Rapids Marathon Logo
Date October 19, 2014
Location Western Michigan, ending in Grand Rapids
Event type Road
Distance Marathon
Established 2004
Official site grandrapidsmarathon.com

The Metro Health/Grand Rapids Marathon is a 26.219-mile (42.195 km) race run every October in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA since 2004. It is a USATF certified course.[1] The Grand Rapids Marathon picked up Metro Health as a title sponsor in 2008. The full marathon gives runners a tour of downtown Grand Rapids and then heads out of the city and into the trails of Millennium Park. It is considered a flat, fast course and is a qualifying opportunity for the Boston Marathon.[1]

The race director is Don Kern.[2]

The marathon utilizes "celebrity" pace teams, based on the times of famous people who had run marathons. The current pace teams include Oprah Winfrey (4:29), P. Diddy (4:14), Will Ferrell (3:56), George W. Bush (3:44), William Baldwin (3:24), and Pi (3:14).

Apart from the main event, there is also a kids marathon, 5K, 10K, half-marathon, marathon relay and fitness expo.

The course record of 2:26.41 was set by David Mart (Zeeland, Michigan) in 2013.[3]

The 2013 overall winner was David Mart. The 2013 female winner was Kylen Cieslak (Chicago, Illinois), who achieved a time of 2:53:40. Also in 2013, Nicholas Liversedge (Lowell, Michigan) won the half-marathon with a time of 1:12:03, and Paige Boldt (Grand Rapids, Michigan) was the female winner with 1:21:29.[3]

2014 is expected to be a 6,000-person event.

References

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External links