Vermont City Marathon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Vermont City Marathon is an annual marathon in the city of Burlington, Vermont, in the United States. Held since 1988 on Memorial Day weekend, the race attracts many people from the New England area.
The race is put on by RunVermont, a nonprofit organization committed to promoting running in Vermont. RunVermont also organizes several other races in addition to running camps and programs.
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[edit] The Race
The race is held annually on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. Runners in the Vermont City Marathon can compete in the full marathon, on a two-person relay team running half marathons, or on a three- to five-person relay team. In 2006, there were 3600 marathoners, 250 two-person teams and 650 three- to five-person teams.
[edit] The Course
The USATF certified course has remained the same since 2001. It starts in Battery Park overlooking Lake Champlain, does a 3.1 mile loop through downtown Burlington, then heads out the Burlington Beltway, a highway that is closed to traffic only once a year for the marathon. The course then climbs back into downtown Burlington before heading South and joining the Burlington Bikepath at Oakledge Park, where the halfway point is reached. The course follows the bikepath north to the "Assault on Battery Hill", the largest climb on the course. After going through Battery Park, the course does a final loop through residential neighborhoods in the north side of Burlington, then follows the bikepath back to the finish at Waterfront Park beside Lake Champlain. The course record for men, set by Michael Khobotov in 2001, is 2:17:03. The course record for Women, set in 1995 by Gordon Bakoulis, is 2:38:32.
[edit] The Hall of Fame
An interesting and ongoing feature of this race is the "running" disagreement between Andrea Sisino, race director and Jim Paulsen, runner. In 1998 a club called the "Hall of Fame" was formed to honor those who had run each of the first ten VCMs. Membership now is a mix of those who have completed every marathon, some who have started but not finished, and still others whose effort was confined to registering for all of the VCM races. Mr Paulsen wears a cone shaped hat proclaiming "Hall of Farce" as he runs the race and believes that the club should honor only those who have achieved it by finishing every race.
