The 2019 Marathon by the Sea takes place in Saint John on August 10 and 11. (Submitted/Marathon by the Sea)
Thousands of runners and walkers are converging on Saint John this weekend for the annual Marathon by the Sea.
The 25th annual event includes a full marathon, half-marathon, 10K, 5K, kids run, and Into The Night 5K.
Christy Cunningham, who is part of the organizing committee, said Friday about 1,500 people have signed up.
But Cunningham said a lot of last-minute registrants tend to sign up on Saturday.
“A lot of runners are like that, you wait and see how well you’ve trained and then you decide what run you’re going to do and if you’re ready and what the weather looks like and that sort of thing,” said Cunningham.
Runners have registered from nine provinces, 14 U.S. states, as well as Germany, Italy, Sweden and France. The marathon is a qualifier for the Boston Marathon, which takes place in April.
Are you getting excited? We are!!!
Posted by Marathon by the Sea on Wednesday, August 7, 2019
Cunningham said in addition to boosting city spirit and getting people out, the marathon has a considerable economic impact.
“Discover Saint John analyzed the impact to the city a couple of years ago, and in 2017, they estimated it has a $1.2 million impact to the city for that one weekend,” she said.
Cunningham encouraged residents in the Saint John area to watch the races and cheer on the participants.
“There’s no better feeling as a runner than being cheered on,” she said. “There’s lots of locations throughout the route where people can cheer them on. The start/finish line is a really great area to take in the atmosphere of the event.”
The full marathon, half-marathon, 10K and 5K start at 8 a.m. Sunday. You can find the full schedule on the Marathon by the Sea website.
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