McALLEN — It’s nearly that time again to strap on those running shoes with the 10th Annual McAllen Marathon Scott Crane Run being less than two weeks away.
With the event fast approaching, the city of McAllen unveiled details of the multiple races that are part of the annual marathon event which will take place on Saturday, Jan. 21.
In celebration of the 10th anniversary of McAllen hosting the marathon, the city is implementing a few changes this time around, officials announced during news conferences held last week and in December.
In response to feedback, the city announced they will host all races — a 5K, 10K, relay marathon, half marathon and the full marathon — on the same day instead of splitting them between two days.
“By hosting all the races on this one day, we hope to maximize the runner experience and keep all of our runners together,” Denny Meline, director of McAllen Parks and Recreation, said in December.
That decision was made based on response from the runners themselves.
“Some of the feedback that we got from past runners was that sometimes running out in north McAllen was kind of lonely for the full marathoners and the relay teams that were up there,” Meline said. “So getting feedback from them, going to a couple of different races here in Texas, we decided to move it to a one day event to maximize, again, that runner experience.”
The day’s events will begin at 7 a.m. with the full marathon, the half marathon and the six-person relay.
At 7:10 a.m., the 5k and 10k races will begin and then at 10 a.m., the city will host the Kids Final Mile.
Students enrolled in the McAllen Independent School District run a total of 24 miles throughout their fall semester, one mile at a time. The Kids’ Final Mile is the last of those 24 miles.
“On Saturday, Jan. 21, they’ll run that final mile during the marathon,” Superintendent J.A. Gonzalez said on Monday. “What this signifies, number one, is the teamwork that we have between the city of McAllen and McAllen ISD but even more than that is that when you think McAllen, you think Mcallen ISD.”
Gonzalez further stressed the importance of health for everyone in the community.
“The marathon exemplifies that and starts to create habits so that students not only move on to do great things academically, but they also understand the importance of taking care of themselves,” Gonzalez said. “Because, as you know, without our health we have nothing.”
When it began in 2013, the event had more than 1,000 runners from nearly 10 states who signed up for the inaugural McAllen marathon, half marathon and what was then the four-person relay, according to the city.
Now, the McAllen marathon event boasts participants from over 17 states and three different countries.
Over the years, hundreds of more runners have signed on to participate in the races.
“We definitely have seen a big increase over the 5k, 10k routes which is a good starting point for beginner runners to come out,” Meline said in December.
He said participation in previous years fluctuated between 1,500 to 1,700 for the marathon event, not counting participation in the Kids’ Final Mile.
“Our goal every year is always to hit that 2,000 mark just for this event,” Meline added. “In the past couple of years, we’ve been around that 1,800 mark so it is very close.”
The city also hosts five other races throughout the year which are collectively referred to as the Scott Crane Running Series. Those races include the Cinco de Mayo 5k, the Independence 4k on July 4, the Neon Nights 5k in August, the Fright Night 5k in October, and the Turkey Trot in November.
“With the Scott Crane running series that we implemented this past year with five different races throughout the whole year, we want to try to make that like a training program that leads up to marathon weekend,” Meline said.
The running series is named after late-McAllen Commissioner Scott Crane who died in 2014 of a heart attack after participating in that year’s marathon. He had to drop out of the race and later collapsed at his home.
The city renamed the marathon in his honor the following year.
For the 10th anniversary of the marathon event, the four-person relay race is now a six-person relay race.
The routes are also different this year, announced Arturo Limon, who is with the city’s parks and recreation department during Monday’s news conference.
The route of the full marathon will consist of two loops of the half marathon route while the routes for the 5k and 10k races will be within the full and half marathon routes.
“One of the main reasons for modifying this route had to do with resources,” Limon said. “In scaling down the route, we were able to maximize all of our different resources and provide the ultimate running experience. With the new route design, our runners will remain closer together and optics for the runners are more favorable than ever.”
Finally, the newest addition to the marathon event is a post-race celebration dubbed the “Extra Mile.”
Taking place at Oval Park in front of the McAllen Convention Center, “Extra Mile” will include a farmers market, swan boats, bounce houses and entertainment.
“This year, what we tried to incorporate is not only for the runners to have a good experience but we also want to make this a family event,” Meline said on Monday. “We want to create an atmosphere to where the family can come out for the whole day and support runners on their journey to complete their marathon.”
Registrations for the event are still open and can be completed at McAllenMarathon.com.
