The Colorado Marathon is a 17 year-long tradition for runners from all over the world. Our marathon is a special one that maintains its Boston qualifying certified course through beautiful Northern Colorado. For those of you who have never heard of The Colorado Marathon, or perhaps this will be your first time running it, we wanted to share some interesting facts as to why this marathon is unique. Who knows, maybe some of these tidbits of information could even help you get a new PR!
1. The Colorado Marathon is a Boston Qualifier
Not every marathon is actually a Boston Qualifier. The Colorado Marathon is unique in that it happens to be one of the most successful at giving runners a greater chance for qualifying performances. Each year, the Colorado Marathon qualifies roughly 16-18 percent of all participants. That’s pretty incredible! So, if you’re looking to qualify for the Boston Marathon in 2019, come and run with us in beautiful and sunny Fort Collins, Colorado on May 6th, 2018!
2. Our course is a gentle downhill
Because the Colorado Marathon begins in the Poudre Canyon at ~6,000’ elevation and ends in Fort Collins at 5003’ elevation, the course is a gentle downhill. We like to tell people that this is an extremely FAST course because of the downhill, which will mitigate much of the fear of an altitude handicap out-of-towners might have. For most runners, it’s actually common to run a faster marathon in our race than they might at lower altitude because of the nice and gentle downhill course.
3. We give back
Over the last 16 years, the Colorado Marathon has donated more than $140,000 to local and national charities and nonprofits. We work closely with our nonprofits to put on an incredible event year after year. We’ve worked with groups like Junior League of Fort Collins, Project Self Sufficiency, and the Environmental Learning Center. Click here to learn more about the nonprofits we’ve supported over the years.
4. We encourage large groups to register together for a prize
The Kaiser Permanente Team Challenge is a fun way to get a group of friends, family, or coworkers together to run any of our five races on May 6th. To the team that gets the most participants, Kaiser Permanente will donate $500 to the approved charity of the team’s choice! So go out there and get as many people as you can together to participate in the KP Team Challenge! Just enter your team name upon registration; to register, click here.
5. The Colorado Marathon isn’t just a marathon…
Besides the full marathon, we host a half-marathon, relay marathon, 10k, and 5k on race day! Whatever level of running you like to participate in, we’ve got an option for you. If you’ve already signed up for one of our races and need to switch to a shorter race, we do allow runners to change their entry – click here to do so now (the difference in race fees in non-refundable, and there is a $20 change fee will apply).  Register for any of our five races today to make your running goals come true!
6. We keep you in the loop
We like to keep our participants in the loop with our email newsletter. Never miss a beat, or a training tip, when you subscribe to our email list. If you want the best tips, tricks, and news about the Colorado Marathon in the months leading up to the race, subscribe to our monthly newsletter now!
Whether you’re running the Colorado Marathon for the first or the tenth time, we’ve got your back. Stay tuned to our blog for training tips, information from our sponsors, and more. And if you haven’t registered yet, what are you waiting for? Go ahead and register here!