On March 25, the National Marathon will make its debut—again. But this time around, says Bob Sweeney, president of the Greater Washington Sports Alliance and the event’s proudest parent, it will become an annual event to rival the likes of the Boston and New York marathons—and with much better scenery.
“As many people may recall, there was an earlier National Marathon that turned out to be a race that was run and not run,” says Sweeney, referring to the ill-fated Washington, D.C., Marathon held in 2002. (It was also scheduled for March 23, 2003, but was called off just two days before the race—with many of the entrants in the air and on the road to Washington—because the United States had invaded Iraq. Washingtonians may also remember it as the day a disgruntled farmer drove his tractor-trailer into the Reflecting Pool, holding the Mall hostage for some 48 hours.) The abrupt cancellation caused red faces all around, a very displeased reaction from the office of Mayor Anthony Williams and the swift departure of the original organizers.
With most of the runners already in town and more than ready to kick up their heels, the decision was made to hold the event sans organizers. What transpired, says Sweeney, an affable man who is built like a fullback, not a runner, became known as the “Unofficial D.C. Marathon,” a cobbled-together race that turned out quite well. “The quick response of the city was fantastic,” he says.
Sweeney knew a golden opportunity when he saw one. After waiting a polite length of time until the track cleared, he offered the mayor’s office the services of his organization as the new producer of the National Marathon.
“It’s a process we had to work through,” he says, “but we prevailed by stating our strong belief that the Washington business community should be promoting major sporting events in D.C.—and we stressed that all the great cities have a great marathon.”
In answering the inevitable question—Why another marathon?—Sweeney and his people explained that the Marine Corps Marathon is open to anyone who wants to enter it, meaning it is not the kind of race favored by “elite” runners, those swift souls who can cover 26.2 miles in no more than two hours and 20 minutes. “All the biggies—Boston, New York, etcetera—make you qualify,” he explains. “So that’s what we’re doing. Elite runners want to meet the 2-hour, 20-minute American elite goal standard, which qualifies them for the Olympics; runners under 50 must show they have run it in less than four hours and 30 minutes—which means Oprah, who so famously did it in 4:29, would qualify—and runners over 50 have to be able to run it in five hours.”
A premier attraction of the race is that it will be run on truly monumental grounds. Beginning and ending at RFK Stadium (present if not future home of the Washington Nationals baseball team), the race will run past the Mall, the U.S. Capitol and other D.C. landmarks, as well as a six-mile segment through Prince George’s County.
Those running the 13.1-mile “half-marathon” can take a shorter route back to RFK, but the 26.2-milers will make a longer turn before heading back to the stadium. (Sweeney hopes the shorter distance will appeal to elite runners still training for the Boston Marathon three weeks later.) Given the serendipitous coincidence that the circus comes to town on the Thursday before race day and will be housed in the Armory right across from RFK, there may even be a clown or two or three to cheer on the runners. For local couch potatoes, Channel 4, the local NBC affiliate, will televise the event: “Full coverage of the beginning and ending,” says Sweeney, “with intermittent updates.”
With the memory of the aborted 2003 event still fresh in the minds of government officials and runners alike, Sweeney says the goal of this inaugural year is to have a “flawless” race, which he defines as one in which “the runners are happy and the city is happy.” To that end, he is leaving little to chance, including the souvenirs and the promotional details. Each runner—Oprah, too, should she participate—will get a personalized runner’s bib with the participant’s number and last name.
To avoid the kind of logistical problems associated with the Marine Corps Marathon, which annually attracts 30,000-plus runners, the National Marathon will be capped at 5,000.
Another hope of the producers is that the race will become an annual draw—and showcase—for what are known as “emerging American elite runners,” those athletes with a good chance for a future Olympic berth. “These people are sub-2:20, which is the Olympic marathon qualifying time,” says Sweeney, an economic development type who was involved in D.C.’s attempt to land the 2012 Olympic Games. “We’re going to invite them, our future Olympians, to be a part of this first race.”
Sweeney is not alone in his enthusiasm for the reborn event. Vince Morris, Mayor Williams’ communications director, says, “The mayor is very excited about this new marathon—and hopeful that after a few years it could be one of the premier marathons in the country. What they’re trying to do sounds like high quality, and D.C. could definitely accommodate a top-quality, really competitive race.”
Aware that not everyone within traveling distance of Washington, D.C., will want to come and see a large crowd of people run a very long distance, Sweeney coyly mentions a few other attractions. “Let’s see. The circus will be here then, but did I mention that March 25 is also opening day of the Cherry Blossom Festival? Or that the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA’s March Madness college basketball tournament will be that Friday and Sunday at MCI Center?” And then, of course, there’s also the National Kite Festival on the Mall beginning at 10 a.m., an event that could produce compelling photographs of rising kites and falling runners who by then will have completed 11.2 miles.
Will Bob Sweeney be among the runners that day?
“If I had [signed up for] the Marine Corps Marathon back in October,” he says, two months later, “I’d be finishing about now. But this event has got me so excited that I actually started running a few weeks ago. I’m already up to four miles!”.