The story behind the success of the Dicks Sporting Good Pittsburg Marathon

Pittsburgh hosted its first Dick’s Sporting Good Marathon on May 5th, 1985. The streets were closed to traffic as music filled the air. People lined the streets to cheer on the racers that went by. In addition to the marathon, there was a half marathon, a team relay, a kids’ race and 5K. Elite and seeded runners, wheelchair racers, and walkers took to the street each May.

Certified Marathon

The Dick’s Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon course is certified by USA Track and Field. The purpose of such a certification program is to produce racecourses of accurately measured distances. The USATF explains, “for any road running performance to be accepted as a record or be nationally ranked, it must be run on a USATF-certified course”.The Pittsburgh Marathon is also a qualifying course for the Boston Marathon. In 1998 The Pittsburgh Marathon hosted the U.S. Olympic Women’s Trials. It hosted the Men’s Trials in 2000. It has also served as the U.S. Men’s National Championship course three times. In 1986 it was the site of the National Wheelchair Championship.

The race attracts athletes from all over the globe. John Kagwe, from Kenya, holds the men’s course record. He set the record in 1995 with a staggering 2 hours, 10 minutes and 24 second time. American, Margaret Groos set the course record for women in 1988. She ran the course at the incredible time of 2 hours, 29 minutes and 50 seconds. In 1994 and then again in 2000, Pittsburgh resident Tammy Slusser won the women’s title.

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The Pittsburgh Marathon ran consecutively until 2003. During those years, UPMC was the largest sponsor. Unfortunately, when the city experienced financial distress UPMC pulled out. Mayor Tom Murphy concluded that the city couldn’t handle the financial burden of hosting the marathon that year, so he canceled it.

Thankfully, after a five-year hiatus, Dick’s Sporting Goods revived the marathon in 2009. It came roaring back, attracting 9,000 runners. Participation has increased with each succeeding year. This caused a need for some modifications to the course to handle the increasing number of athletes.

The next marathon is set for May 5, 2024.  It is a race you should put on your calendar.   And if you are not ready to run 26.2 miles there are other events too.  

posted Thursday August 10th