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News Brief

Sept. 19, 2024ST. JOSEPH, Mo.

St. Joseph Sports Commission carrying momentum into 2nd annual Marathon

The 2nd annual St. Joseph, MO Marathon is September 28.

(File photo, courtesy St. Joseph Sports Commission)

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The countdown is on for the second edition of the St. Joseph Marathon.

The St. Joseph Sports Commission held a media conference Thursday afternoon unveiling participant medals, shirts, St. Joseph Marathon swag, and discussing the logisitics of the race scheduled for September 28.

The first go-round for the marathon had 532 participants and gained credibility thanks to a scenic yet challenging course, an abundance of volunteers and an overall smooth operation.

That credibility is resulting in a boom in registrations for 2024. Brett Esely, the director of the St. Joseph Sports Commission, says registrations are up 25% from this time last year.

The event includes a range of distances from marathon to half marathon, marathon relay, 10K and 5K.

The marathon fills a void for a growing running community around St. Joseph, but also reconnects the city with former residents.

"In the case of a gentleman running the 5K, he sent me a note and said 'I started my life and my roots in St. Joseph in 1953 and looking forward to coming back. There's a gentleman that likely hasn't been back to St. Joe, I don't know if at all, but likely not very much in nearly now 60 years if my math is correct," Esely said.

"I think that's just one of many stories that are very unique."

Esely adds that putting together an event of this magnitude requires months of planning, but thanks to the buy-in from the city and volunteers, the sports commission heads into year two with a lot of momentum.

"It really does take a village with all of the moving parts of race day, route management and things leading up to the race, but we're really excited. The long term forecast for race day looks great, and I think we just look forward to building on what was a strong foundation and a really exciting year two of the St. Joseph, Missouri Marathon."

Registration for all race distances is open until next Friday, September 27th. For more information or to sign up, click here.