On your marks ...

BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Entering its sixth year, the Baltimore Marathon is much more than just a race.

For the last four years, Under Armour has teamed up with other sponsors to put on the Baltimore Running Festival, which encompasses three days of activities and culminates with Saturday’s actual marathon, which begins at 8 a.m. and traverses 26.2 miles through the city.

Besides the marathon, the festival features a half-marathon, 5K race, kids race and a four-person relay. The Health and Fitness Expo will be held at M&T Bank Stadium on Friday, and a giant screen and live band will meet runners at the finish line Saturday.

Once the marathon finally begins at the intersection of Russell and Camden streets, it will do so with quite a spectacle. A sky-diving team will jump from 12,000 feet above and transport the starting horn to Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley and Under Armour founder Kevin Plank.

The festival’s 12,000 entrants (2,400 in the marathon) are quite a diverse group, featuring runners from all 50 states and 24 countries.

“My goal is to win and set a new record time,” said Abraham Kosgei, an elite runner from Kenya. “After about 20 miles is where the best separate themselves.”

Perhaps the fastest man in Charm City Saturday will be Kenyan McDonald Ondara, who arrived in America this week. He ran the 23rd fastest half marathon in the world in France this year, at 61:21. When asked about his goals Saturday, he seemed to channel Raiders owner Al Davis.

“Just win,” he said.

Phebe Ko, a 23-year-old student at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, has been training and preparing for this race for a long time. A graduate student and former Duke cross-country standout, Ko compared the Baltimore Marathon to the same event held up in Massachusetts every Patriot’s Day.

“I ran the Boston Marathon in April 2006,” Ko said. “I have heard many people say that the courses are very similar, and I think that should help me. Now I know what to expect.”

In six years, the festival has generated more than $2.5 million for local charities and more than $56 million in economic impact for the city.