Annual Monumental Marathon set to get underway
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – The 10th annual CNO Financial Indianapolis Monumental Marathon is set to take place this weekend.
Friday runners lined up for what’s called a “shakeout run”. They ran off on a 5K, all for charity. It benefits the Indy Monumental nonprofit called the “Monumental Kids Movement”. Also happening Friday is the Monumental Health & Fitness Expo at the Indiana Convention center. That’s going on from 11 a.m. until 8 p.m Friday. A lot of speakers will be at the expo including running podcasters, doctors and even some Olympians.
The opening ceremony for the race itself starts Saturday at 7:30 a.m.. Then at 8 a.m., the marathon and half-marathon start near Hudnut Commons on Capitol Ave. just south of Washington Street. The run is different this year, because of a wave start format.
Jed Cornforth, the executive director of Beyond Monumental, the company behind the Monumental Marathon, says the race is getting larger despite national trends.
“Generally speaking, the trend for national marathons, you know, nationally, they are going down about five to ten percent,” said Cornforth. “So, thankfully we’ve grown about 10 percent in the marathon distance and we’re really moving in the right direction. We hope to sustain that.”
Awards for the marathon start as early as 9:30 a.m. Saturday for the 5K then are staggered every hour throughout the morning. If you want to follow your family and friends you can do that with the MyLaps app. It features live tracking of all participants and even interactive course maps.