MIAMI (WSVN) - One of the largest running events in the world is celebrating two decades in South Florida.
Twenty years later, the Miami Marathon is one of the biggest in the running world.
“We had our sights on being a big race,” said co-founder Frankie Ruiz.
From its inaugural race with only 3,400 runners, to now having an average of 25,000, it’s become an internationally 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.
Organizers 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.
For more information about the Miami Marathin, click here. For road closure information, click here.
Copyright 2024 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.