In November, the Philadelphia Marathon will celebrate twenty years of the race. It will be held one week ahead of its normal date, on November 17th instead of November 24th. Traditionally, the race is held the weekend before Thanksgiving, and was set to be held November 22-24th, but the race dates were changed due to a big event being held at the Convention Center during the originally planned date. The Greenbuild International Conference and Expo will be in town during November 22-24.
“The Philadelphia Marathon decided to move the date for the 2013 Philadelphia Marathon to secure space in the Pennsylvania Convention Center (PCCA) for the Marathon Health & Fitness Expo,” said the new executive director of the Marathon, Desiree Peterkin-Bell. “As we have been informed by authorities at the Convention Center, it would have been difficult for the City to host the Philadelphia Marathon and the Greenbuild International Conference & Expo, while providing the hotel space needed for nearly 60,000 combined attendees at the PCCA on the same weekend. As we do every year, we have worked with our hotel partners citywide to set aside a number of rooms at a favorable rate for our runners. On April 1st, registration for the Marathon will open, and participants will be able to reserve reduced-rate hotels rooms available through our website.”
The Philadelphia Marathon website is not updated with the new dates and still has the 2012 dates listed. The race was held on Sunday, November 18th in 2012 and Sunday, November 20th in 2011. While the November 17th Marathon/Half Marathon date will not be the Sunday before Thanksgiving, it does fall as the third Sunday of November just as it did the past few years.
The Philadelphia Marathon Facebook page has runners commenting on the change of date. Most runners are unaffected and excited for the 20th anniversary, though some have complained about pre-arranged travel arrangements. The race is just less than nine months away and the announcement was made well in advance of registration, which begins on April 1. Having the race the weekend before Thanksgiving was convenient for those runners coming from out of town who have family in the Philadelphia Area, but this year it will not be possible.
The first race was held in 1994 with just over 1000 participants. For the last few years, the race has set records for participation, with 30,000 runners registering in 2012.
Mark you calendars now and book your hotel rooms for the new date!
April 1 - Registration opens!
Friday, November 15th - Health & Fitness Expo, 12pm
Saturday, November 16th - Expo, Rothman 8k, Kids Run
***Sunday, November 17th*** - Philadelphia Marathon & Half Marathon
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