Richmond Marathon weekend sells out for a second straight year
All 21,000 places across the Richmond Marathon, half and 8k are gone six weeks before race day, with the marathon filling faster than it ever has.
Photograph: the 2014 Monument Avenue 10k in Richmond, Virginia, by Eli Christman, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsRichmond, Virginia, has no race entries left for November 14. The marathon, the half marathon and the 8k are all full, 21,000 runners and walkers in total, and the 8k was the last distance to close. Organiser Sports Backers confirmed the sell-out on Thursday. Its executive director, Will Dixon, said "every distance has sold out for a second straight year."
The marathon went first. It filled in June, the third year running it has sold out and the fastest it has ever done so, with 7,200 places. That came after the organisers moved 1,000 entries from the half to the full after last year, because demand for 26.2 miles outran the shorter race. Total capacity stayed the same.
What is left is a waitlist for each distance and a small number of charity entries for the 8k. The waitlist stays open until October 30, which is also the deadline to switch distances or defer. Anyone on it gets early word when entry opens for the 2027 race, the event's fiftieth.
Richmond is a mid-sized American city marathon in the middle of November. The fact that it can turn people away six weeks out, at every distance, says more about where road running is right now than any big-city ballot does. The demand has moved down the calendar and out of the majors.
Sources: WWBT 12 On Your Side; Sports Backers via Endurance Sportswire; Richmond Marathon.
