Urban Marathons Adding To Economic Growth

"Well-known races like the Chicago and New York City Marathons have capped their registrations to avoid overflow. The New York City Marathon expects 37,000 runners to participate in this year's race Nov. 5.

Participants in second tier races in Miami, Portland and Detroit have also skyrocketed as more runners are shut out of big time races and new faces enter the field.

More cities are jumping in the race. The number of marathons nationwide has grown steadily in the last five years, according to MarathonGuide.com., from 272 events in 2001 to 359 scheduled marathons for 2006.

Most marathons are started by local running clubs with the economic and logistical support from the host cities. But in some cases, cities initiate the formation of their own marathons and bring in outside event management companies to organize the event and find sponsors.

'We're seeing a lot of smaller and mid-size cities putting more effort into their races to bring more people and money into their cities,' said Jean Knaack, executive director of Road Runners Club of America. 'Marathons seem to have its own niche tourism market. They get a lot of out-of-towners.'"