Taking a step forward

New course may ease sting after gaffes last year

By Angie Mudd, Special to the Rocky

Friday, May 16, 2008

For a guy who plans to run three marathons in 29 days, that extra half-mile in last year's Post-News Colorado Colfax Marathon was no big deal.

And that's why Justin Mock is coming back to defend his title Sunday.

Even after a few snags last year that almost shut down the event, the Colfax Marathon has rebounded.

With a new course, a change in management duties and plenty of portable toilets after a major shortage last year, the event is expected to have its highest number of participants among the marathon (26.2 miles), half-marathon (13.1 miles) and five-member relay team races.

"It is still such a great event and I love to be a part of it," said Mock, 26, who also plans to run the Steamboat Marathon on June 1 and the Estes Park Marathon on June 15. He won the 2007 Colfax Marathon in 2 hours, 53 minutes, 40.9 seconds.

"I didn't know what to expect last year," he said. "But I really enjoyed it. And, honestly, I didn't even know about that extra little bit that was added to the course until after the race. I knew somewhere between miles 10 and 13 my splits were a little slow. But it really didn't matter that much to me."

Operations director Creigh Kelley said an old version of the course got mixed up with the correct route during setup on race day.

While the course didn't affect half-marathoners, the marathon runners were steered a quarter- mile in the wrong direction at the 12-mile mark and were brought back to the right course after another quarter- mile.

5,000-plus runners

Kelley said the fact race management took responsibility for the mistake helped smooth things over. Race organizers had the course recertified and figured out the differential, and the Boston Marathon was willing to accept the adjusted times as prequalification standards.

"Those runners had every right to be mad at us," Kelley said. "But it would have affected us more if we said it wasn't our fault. They would have the right to condemn you. But we were upfront and honest, we were flexible, we were candid and we tried to make it better."

Kelley wouldn't give an exact number on how many participants have signed up this year - walk-up registration continues through today - but said the numbers will be greater than the previous two years.

More than 5,000 had registered as of this week, compared with 4,654 last year and 5,065 in 2006.

The increase could be, in part, because of a new course - last year, the race started in Aurora Sports Park and went west to end at Colorado Mills Mall, with runners covering more rolling hills as the race went on.

"We did a survey that we gave to all of last year's runners to get some feedback, and they were brutal and honest, and we took all of that into account to make us better," Kelley said.

"We took this entire year to reconstruct this thing from the ground up," Kelley said. "And we put together a blue-ribbon panel of marathon runners and asked them what kind of course would be ideal for them, and starting and finishing at City Park fit what we wanted to do."

Change of scenery

This year, the marathon course starts at City Park and heads west through Lakewood before turning around, taking a detour around Sloan's Lake and heading through part of downtown and finishing back at City Park.

The half-marathon also starts at City Park, heads east on Colfax and goes past Peoria before turning around and also finishing at City Park.

"We wanted to have this event take part throughout all of Denver, Lakewood and Aurora, but it is really hard to run straight for 26.2 miles, because runners need some distraction or different scenery," Kelley said. "And this new course is just that. It's flat and fast. It's the land of no excuses."

As for the shortage of portable toilets last year, Kelley said that problem has been fixed, with more than 200 along the course.

"This year, we are going to have them everywhere," he said. "Every water station, every corner, everywhere you look there will be one. It's not going to be a problem this time."

Mock is excited about the changes. He won by nearly seven minutes last year over runner-up Steve Krebs and hopes the new course and other adjustments will bring in a larger field of good runners.

"The event could be really great this year, and the course looks like it's going to be a lot better," said Mock, who works downtown and does training runs along Colfax. "I went out too aggressively last year. So if I was going to give anyone advice, I would say to be conservative for the first half of the race. By 8 in the morning, it will start warming up outside just as people are starting to get really tired. So save some energy."

RACE DETAILS

* What: Third Post-News Colorado Colfax Marathon.

* Where: Start and finish at City Park.

* When: Sunday; wheelchair race starts at 5:55 a.m.; all others at 6 a.m.

* Races: Marathon (26.2 miles); half-marathon (13.1 miles); five-person relay event; National Wheelchair Marathon Championships.

* Registration: Available at the Sports & Fitness Expo in City Park from 9 a.m to 5 p.m. today. Online registration is closed.

* Parking: Available at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science and east lots of the Denver Zoo.

* Street closures: Colfax Avenue and some adjacent streets from Aurora to Lakewood will have rolling closures or restrictions.

* Information: coloradocolfaxmarathon.org.