PORT ANGELES — Runners of all ages, shapes and sizes will descend onto Clallam County for the eighth annual North Olympic Discovery Marathon on Sunday.
The marathon is just one of several races going on this weekend but it is the featured event.
A total of 2,100 runners are expected for the four events and a good portion of them will be running in the marathon, which attracts athletes from around the world and across the country.
The numbers beat last year’s entries but are behind the event’s best year in 2008, according to race co-director Michelle Little.
“The [Hood Canal] bridge closure and the economy affected us last year, and this year we had to limit registration,” she said.
Registration for the marathon was closed May 19 but reopened soon after for two days because of runners asking to be allowed to sign up.
Still begging to register
But those extra two days evidently weren’t enough.
“People are begging us to reopen registration,” Little said. “They are offering to pay three times the fee. We are a popular marathon.”
The weather may be close to perfect for long runs with a high of 58 degrees forecast for Sunday with about a 30 percent chance of showers.
Little is a little concerned about the weather.
“The weather has been crazy for the last couple of weeks,” she said.
Little is more concerned for her 500 volunteers than the runners.
“Pacific Northwest runners are used to rainy weather but it’s tough on the volunteers because they are out in it the whole time,” she said.
Little remembers two years ago when it rained hard during the race. She doesn’t want a repeat for her “small army of volunteers.”
The weekend kicks off with the Kids Marathon on Saturday. Any child is welcomed to enter but most of the competitors will be area children who have been building marathon mileage up the past six to 10 weeks at their schools.
The boys and girls, ages 13 and younger, now will complete their marathon journey with a 1.2-mile fun run at the Port Angeles City Pier at 4 p.m. on Saturday.
That final fun run combined with their previous running mileage should add up to a total of 25 miles, thus the name Kids Marathon.
The action gets serious Sunday with all four races starting at 9 a.m.
The 26.2-mile marathon starts at Carrie Blake Park in Sequim and ends at Port Angeles City Pier, where all the races conclude.
The marathon race course will be open 5 ½ hours.
Runners are calling the North Olympic Discovery Marathon the “best boutique marathon in North America” for smalltown marathons, according to the marathon’s website, nodm.com.
The 13.1-mile half marathon race starts at the Agnew Soccer Fields, halfway between Sequim and Port Angeles.
The other races are the Olympic Medical Center 10-kilometer and 5K races, which start and finish at City Pier.
Award ceremonies will follow every race at City Pier.
