2022 Miami Marathon will celebrate 20 years this weekend

One of the largest running events in the world is celebrating decades in South Florida.

“We had our sights on being a big race,” said co-founder Frankie Ruiz. Twenty years later, the Miami Marathon is one of the biggest in the running world.

From its inaugural with only 3,400 runners to now having an average of 25,000, its become an international renowned running event.

“Ninety-nine point nine percent of the people that run this race aren’t doing it for a living or a profession,” said Ruiz. “The rest are just like me who are just having a good time sharing community, sharing a common goal that day.”

There have been some big names running some record times here in the magic city. The best time so far was just over two hours.

Like many other events, the Miami Marathon is returning for its 20th year after going virtual last year due to COVID-19.

They are seeing the demand from their participants as the race sold out back in November.

“Now, what I think we have is all this pent up demand,” Ruiz said. “We deferred a lot of those entries of people that were registered, because a whole lot of people registered for 2021. We pushed those over to 2022, and I think there’s definitely a greater sense of health and well-being and wellness and so forth and that’s why we’re seeing the demand in the sport right now.”

Twenty-six miles of roads across South Florida will transform into one the best courses in the country.

posted Friday February 4th
by Alex Browning