Press Release - Baltimore Marathon - 10/17/13

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
                 2013 Baltimore Running Festival Recap

MARATHON RESULTS: Americans captured the marathon title for the first time 
in the 13-year history of the Baltimore Marathon. David Berdan, a 
32-year-old science teacher from Owings Mills, led wire-to-wire to earn the 
men's marathon crown with a time of 2:30:06. Elizabeth Perry from 
Pittsburgh won the women's division after crossing the finish line in 
2:58:01. She pulled away from second place finisher Julia Roman-Duval with 
several miles remaining.

INSPIRATION: The marathon began at 8am after inspirational words from 
honorary starter Erika Brannock, a local pre-school teacher who was the 
last survivor to leave the hospital after the Boston Marathon bombing on 
April 15. Brannock said, “You can do this, and you will do this” prior to 
blowing an air horn and sending the field off. She also held the finish 
line tape as the marathon champions crossed the line outside of M&T Bank 
Stadium on October 12th.

FIELD & CONDITIONS: The annual Baltimore Running Festival consisted of a 
total field size of nearly 27,000 runners who competed in the marathon, 
CareFirst Half Marathon, Legg Mason Team Relay, ShopRite 5K or Transamerica 
Kids Fun Run under cloudy skies, occasional drizzle and temperatures that 
hovered around 60 degrees with little wind.
 
CHARITY: Robbie Thompson from Ernst & Young raised $14,310 for Back on My 
Feet as the marathon's charity chaser. Thompson started last in a field of 
3,294 marathon starters and finished in 433rd place overall (gun time). 
Running Festival organizers Corrigan Sports Enterprises donated $5 to the 
charity for every runner Thompson beat to the marathon finish line. Overall 
the event is expected to generate $2 million for local charities.

WORLD RECORD: The fun was not only restricted to the course. Applesauce 
company Musselman's set a new world record for the largest bowl of 
applesauce. Runners and fans dumped 716 pounds of applesauce into a giant 
bowl located in the DSW Celebration Village.

MEDIA: WBAL-TV covered the marathon live with five hours of coverage on 
race day and witnessed new ratings marks. The local NBC affiliate saw its 
ratings spike 14% higher than last year.

Next year's Baltimore Running Festival will take place on Saturday, October 
18th.

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