Durham runners are one step closer to the starting
line of the city’s first ever Garmin marathon.
6,000 runners from 46 states and 17 countries will
race through Durham this weekend.
Athletes will start at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park and end at Brooks Field
at Duke’s Wallace Wade stadium.
“We’re excited to have the Garmin Marathon Series
here in Durham, one of three destinations to have it,” Marcus Manning, the Executive
Director of the Durham Sports Commission, said.
Manning says the race’s economic impact will be
significant.
“The hotels, the restaurants, the small
businesses, all play a role, and they’re going to experience economic impact,”
Manning said.
Durham is playing host to more and more large
sporting events.
According to the Durham Sports Commission, in
FY25, sports tourism had a $14.2 million total economic impact, with 48 events
supported and more than 93,000 spectators.
Garmin International’s Director of Advertising
Steve Lovell says the Bull City was a perfect fit, and at Thursday’s Expo, he
pointed to positive vibes.
“We researched over 50 different cities,
trying to figure out what would be good space, places to go, where could we
launch the cities at, and Durham just came to mind,” Lovell said. “I was
looking for opportunities where we have a city that is unique but also doesn’t
have large races that are going on within the city, and those were two things
we found in Durham.”
Just like Saturday’s race, keeping Durham’s
tourism economy booming is a marathon – not a sprint.
“We’re excited that we’re able to recruit
these events to Durham, but we’re probably even more excited to be able to
retain some of these events as well, and again, it takes a collective effort,”
Manning said.
At 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, organizers will lead a Shake
Out Run at CCB Plaza with the Crank Arm Run Club, described as “a lighthearted,
easygoing run through downtown Durham followed by raffle prizes.”
The Expo runs until 7 p.m. on Thursday and runs from
9:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. on Friday.
Even if you’re not running on Saturday, there are
road closures you need to be aware of. You can find course info from Garmin here, Expo
info here, and Race Day schedules here.
