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CLEVELAND - (April 17, 2008) - The Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon, Half Marathon & 10K has announced official course changes for its 31st annual event on Sunday, May 18. The marathon, half-marathon and 10K courses each will be modified from the 2007 course due to the growing number of race participants.
"With 10,000 expected runners, walkers and wheelers on the course this year, we've decided to make some accommodations to alleviate potential problems with runner congestion as well as traffic flow concerns with the Regional Transit Authority (RTA)," said Executive Race Director Jack Staph. "Race participation has increased 90 percent since 2003. The changes we made will simplify the course for the runners and minimize traffic issues for our host city."
All three events will still start and finish the race on St. Clair near the Galleria building, with the majority of course updates occurring throughout the middle of each race. The race will continue to showcase major landmarks and popular locations throughout the city of Cleveland.
Based on runner feedback, race officials have also made improvements to mile markers and directional course signs, incorporating color coding so participants in each race can easily identify signs pertinent to them. Also, the start of the 10K wheelchair and foot race has been moved back 15 minutes in order to provide the increasing number of runners with more space at the start line between the half-marathon / marathon start and the 10K start of the race.
"Our intent is to make our event as runner-friendly as possible," added Staph. "So, we are quite excited about the improvements we've made for our 31st edition. I think they'll allow runners to enjoy the race, the entertainment and the scenery of Cleveland even more."
Race officials also hope that the new course changes will allow even more spectators to line the course and support the efforts of the participants. The event begins at 7:00am with participants crossing the finish line from 8:00am - 3:00pm.
For details on the event, or to register for the 31st Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon races, call (800) 467-3826 or visit: ClevelandMarathon.com.
Ryan Lamppa, Running USA Media Director
(805) 696-6232; Fax = (805) 659-0016
Ryan@RunningUSA.org
www.RunningUSA.org.
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