Race
The ING Miami Marathon is open to all runners, male and female, from any nation, and is an official Boston Marathon qualifier.
The 42.195-kilometre (26.219 mi) race is typically run on the last Sunday in late January or the first Sunday in early February, at approximately 6:10am. The Miami Half Marathon, a 21.075-kilometre (13.095 mi) race, is started concurrently. A wheelchair division of the marathon begins 5–10 minutes before the footrace.
Celebrities or local politicians typically start the race. The legendary Frank Shorter, Olympic marathon gold medalist in 1972, and Ryan Hall, winner of the 2008 United States Olympic Trials, have been given this honor.
Beginning on Biscayne Boulevard next to the American Airlines Arena (home of the Miami Heat), the course takes runners eastbound on the MacArthur Causeway, past cruise ships docked at the Port of Miami, to South Beach. From there, competitors travel northbound along the famous Ocean Drive, through the City of Miami Beach, and then westbound along the Venetian Causeway and back to the mainland and the City of Miami. Here, the Miami Half Marathon finishes and the full marathon continues southbound through the financial district, Brickell, into Coconut Grove, out the Rickenbacker Causeway towards Key Biscayne, and then back through Brickell and downtown Miami to complete the 42.195 kilometres (26.219 mi) at Bayfront Park.
The race has been growing over the years. In 2010, 18,321 runners took part in the combined races. For the 2011 event, registrations increased by 20 percent.
The average temperature at the start of the race for the years 2003-2007 was 63.4 degrees Fahrenheit (17.4 degrees Celsius).
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Famous quotes containing the word race:
“Nobody is glad in the gladness of another, and our system is one of war, of an injurious superiority. Every child of the Saxon race is educated to wish to be first. It is our system; and a man comes to measure his greatness by the regrets, envies, and hatreds of his competitors.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“I would be a winner because I was a loser! That’s right. I dream of failure every night of my life, and that’s my secret. To make it in this rat race you have to dream of failing every day. I mean, that is reality.”
—Donald Freed, U.S. screenwriter, and Arnold M. Stone. Robert Altman. Richard Nixon (Philip Baker Hall)
“The great want of our race is perfect educators to train new-born minds, who are infallible teachers of what is right and true.”
—Catherine E. Beecher (1800–1878)