FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Registration Now Open For
2011 City Of Oaks Marathon And Rex Healthcare Half Marathon
November 6th marathon Event Features
New Races and a New Start/Finish Location
RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA (February 9, 2011) - The City of Oaks Marathon Race
Committee has announced the fifth annual City of Oaks Marathon and Rex
Healthcare Half Marathon, presented by Raleigh Running Outfitters. The race
is scheduled for the morning of Sunday, November 6, 2011. Online
registration is now available through the official race website,
www.cityofoaksmarathon.com.
Each year, the event hosts thousands of runners who hail from areas across
the Triangle and across the nation. The event is designed to showcase the
beauty and diversity of the Raleigh metro area. This year, the 26.2-mile
marathon and the 13.1-mile half marathon will start and finish in a new
location - N.C. State University's Bell Tower on Hillsborough Street.
According Ron Wahula, the races' newly appointed director, the new
start/finish location provides runners with easy access and an easy-to-find
landmark for the start. "The area can also support a great post-race runner
festival with lots of food, music and family-friendly events."
The new location also means a course adjustment for the event. "Runners
will enjoy a new course with lots of local sites," Wahula says, and an
exhilarating finish down Hillsborough Street.
While the altered course has yet to be finalized, the race course will
retain many of the features of the previous years', Wahula says. The
marathon will include a run into downtown Raleigh, a short loop of city
center that passes by the State Capitol Building, and a scenic trek inside
Umstead Park. The half marathon also tours much of the downtown area but
skips the hilly pass through Umstead Park.
The 2010 event hosted more than 3,200 participants and raised $50,000 for
the race's selected beneficiaries. The Race Committee expects participation
to be boosted this year by the addition of two new race events: a marathon
relay and a kids' "marathon" mile.
Teams that participate in the marathon relay will split the 26.2 miles
among four racers. Each will run a leg of either 5 miles, 6.2 miles, 6.6
miles, or 8.4 miles.
Children aged 7 to 14 can participate in the new kids' marathon.
Participants are required to run and log 25.2 miles on their own (under the
supervision of their parents or school). Then they'll run the final mile in
the kids-only event on race day.
"The new events provide a menu of family-friendly running events that
appeal to all levels of runners, regardless of age and level of fitness,"
says Wahula.
The marathon and half marathon events award a combined cash purse of
$20,300, in addition to commemorative awards and other giveaways. All races
begin at 7:00 a.m. on race day with the exception of the kids' marathon
mile, which sets off at 7:20 a.m.
To register for the 2011 City of Oaks Marathon or Rex Healthcare Half
Marathon, visit www.cityofoaksmarathon.com. All registration is being
handled on line.
Presenting sponsor Raleigh Running Outfitters established the City of Oaks
Race in 2007 with the intention of bringing a prestigious running event to
the city of Raleigh, one that would draw thousands of runners and
spectators and would have a meaningful impact on its beneficiaries. The
beneficiaries of this year's race are yet to be announced.
Raleigh Running Outfitters is an independently owned and operated retailer
that supplies shoes, apparel, and accessories to all types of runners and
walkers. The store operates in two Triangle locations: in Raleigh, at 7449
Six Forks Road in the Celebration at Six Forks shopping center; and in
Cary, at 2773 NC Highway 55 in the High House Crossing shopping center.
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