Heart of America Marathon celebrated 63rd annual year

Boone County’s Heart of America Marathon celebrated its 63rd annual race year Monday morning, making it the second oldest continuously running marathon in the United States.

The race director Kathy Lee said the Labor Day marathon put on by The Columbia Track Club is rooted in history.

“It’s been going every year since 1960 starting right here in Columbia,” Lee said.

Lee said people travel far and wide to race in the Heart of American Marathon. She said in previous years, they’ve had runners from overseas. However, this year, the farthest runner was from Alaska.

She said the challenge is what brings people from all over to the mid-Missouri marathon.

“This is a bucket list marathon, it really is,” Lee said. “Because we advertise heat, hills and humidity, it’s tough. It was rated on RavesReviews as one of the toughest marathons in the country. Some people like the challenge,”

Thomas Sinnott is a Pennsylvania native who made the journey to Columbia to take part in the 26.2 miles.

“Well, I’m a 50-stater. There’s a few of us that try to run marathons in as many states as possible,” Sinnott said.

Missouri is Sinnott’s 32nd state in his journey to 50.

He said he was most looking forward to the race, seeing a new part of the country and meeting like-minded runners.

However, mid-Missouri offers humidity Sinnott wasn’t particularly looking forward to.

“The thing I dread honestly, this is a humid part of the world. So, without too much detail, sometimes it’s the chaffing and the grinding, that makes for an unpleasant rest of the day,” Sinnott said.

Sinnott was joined by almost 250 fellow runners taking part in the Heart of America Marathon.

Lee said there is a ton of preparation that goes into each year’s race.

“In fact, we’ll start on Tuesday to prepare for next year’s marathon,” Lee said. “It takes months.”

At the finish line, there was a pizza party for runners and volunteers, a masseuse and a chiropractor for the runners, and all participants received a medal.

posted Tuesday September 6th
by Elise Person