MyBESTRuns

2022 Cellcom Green Bay Marathon returns in person

 The Cellcom Green Bay Marathon is days away.

 After years of waiting, the final countdown is on.

The 23rd Cellcom Green Bay Marathon is set for Sunday, May 15th, in person.

For runners completing the full marathon, it’ll be the first time they’ll hit the course together since 2018.

“I can’t wait. This is our hometown event. We put so much effort into making this event as amazing as it can be for everyone, so our pace team is going to be out there helping everyone. It’s going to be a party atmosphere,” says Carrie Miller, runner and founder of On Pace Race.

COVID-19 forced the races to go virtual the past two years, and the year before that, flooding on the course prompted the cancellation of the full marathon at the last minute on race morning.

“I think it’s just a sense of normalcy just getting to be back together,” says Cellcom Green Bay Marathon spokesperson Tammy VanDenBush. “There’s something about chasing goals together. You get that energy from other runners.”

With the return comes a lot of change.

All the running events will be held Sunday morning, with staggered start times.

There’s no expo or kids’ run this year as organizers work to ramp events back up.

All the festivities, including packet pickup and the post-race party, will take place outside The Bar on Holmgren Way.

“The Stadium District, as you know on game day, is so fun and we’re really excited to bring that to race day and bring that energy down to the Stadium District, but the course is really our biggest change for the year,” says VanDenBush.

That includes the start and finish lines.

“The marathon is using Mason Street for the first time, so that’s where they’ll be crossing the Fox River both directions,” says VanDenBush. “A lot of it is the same... Ashwaubenon, north of the stadium Green Bay neighborhoods, but then the marathon goes over Mason Street, having some miles in Allouez, which we haven’t had before, and then they’ll be hopping on the trail.”

She says the portion of the Fox River Trail that flooded in 2019 is no longer part of the course.

Carrie Miller, who started pacing runners at the Cellcom Green Bay Marathon five years ago, says the excitement of a return to normal at their signature race is drawing in double her normal number of pacers.

posted Wednesday May 11th
by Sarah Thomsen