Austin Marathon

The Austin Marathon (also known as Ascension Seton Austin Marathon presented by Under Armour for sponsorship reasons) is an annual marathon held in Austin, Texas, since 1992. The race weekend also features a half marathon, a 5K run, and a mile run, with a two-day expo taking place on Friday and Saturday.

Austin Marathon
Austin Marathon, Half Marathon, and 5K
Dateusually in February
April 25 in 2021 due to pandemic
LocationAustin, Texas
Event typeRoad
DistanceMarathon, half marathon, 5K, mile
Established1992 (1992)
Official sitewww.youraustinmarathon.com
Participants2,794 finishers (marathon) (2020)[1]
Start line on Congress Ave., 2019
Prerace ceremonial honors, 2014

The race begins at 7:00 in the morning and features a highly-competitive elite field. It is livestreamed by FloSports. Participants typically include runners from all 50 U.S. states and about 35 countries.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the 2021 edition of the Austin Marathon was postponed to April 25, 2021 and will not actually include a marathon.

History

It was founded in 1991 by Motorola, who served as title sponsor for fifteen years.[2]

The 2021 edition of the marathon was cancelled, while the other races of the weekend were postponed to April 25, 2021, due to the coronavirus pandemic, with all registrants given the option of transferring their entry to the new date, or to 2022, 2023, or 2024.[3][4][5] To properly mark the event's 30th anniversary with a running of the full marathon, anniversary celebrations would be extended to 2022.[3]

Course
External image
Course map of full marathon in 2020[6]
Starting area near the Capitol, 2014
Runners entering downtown, 2019

The Austin Marathon and Austin Half Marathon both start at 2nd St. and Congress Avenue. The course goes by Austin landmarks and areas, like downtown, the Colorado River, SoCo, historic Hyde Park, East Austin, and the University of Texas at Austin campus and tower. Bands perform live music along the race route in a tribute to Austin's label as The Live Music Capital of the World. The race ends near where it begins at 9th and Congress Ave. in front of the picturesque Texas State Capitol.[7] The course is USATF-certified.

The course that debuted in 2018 was designed to provide a better participant and spectator experience and allow enhanced traffic flow along the course, while still finishing with the picturesque Texas State Capitol as every runner’s backdrop. The first half of the Austin Marathon was not changed. After Mile 12, half marathoners head south to the finish line, while marathoners continue east before turning north and running on Guadalupe St. through the heart of the University of Texas campus.

Other races

In addition to the marathon held on Sunday, the Austin Marathon weekend features the Manzano Mile presented by Dole on Saturday morning, and the half marathon and KXAN SimpleHealth 5K benefitting Paramount Theatre on Sunday morning.

Community impact

Austin Gives Miles, the marathon's official charity program, raised $702,500 in 2020.[8] The 25 Central Texas nonprofit organizations accepted into the program worked to exceed the program’s fundraising goal while increasing awareness of their organization and recruiting race day volunteers. Since 2014, Austin Gives Miles has raised $3.8 million for Central Texas nonprofit organizations. In 2019, Moody Foundation became presenting sponsor for Austin Gives Miles. Since 2015, Austin Gives Miles has been a Moody Foundation grant recipient. During this time, their total contributions have reached $1.2 million.

The Austin Marathon injected $48.5 million into the Austin economy during the 2019 race weekend.[9] 2019's economic impact on the City of Austin is a $11 million (23 percent) increase from the 2018 event.

Sponsorship

Marathon founder Motorola served as the marathon's title sponsor for fifteen years.[2]

The marathon was sponsored by AT&T in 2007 and 2008, but ran with no title sponsor in 2009.[10] From 2010 to 2013, the race was called the LIVESTRONG Austin Marathon. Freescale returned as presenting sponsor in 2014 and 2015. NXP Semiconductors and Freescale completed their merger in December 2015,[11] with NXP becoming the presenting sponsor for 2016 and 2017. Under Armour was the presenting sponsor of the 2018 Austin Marathon,[12] but had no title sponsor. In 2019, an agreement was reached naming Ascension Seton the title sponsor.[13] Under Armour also returned as presenting sponsor for the 2019 Austin Marathon. KXAN-TV became title sponsor of the KXAN SimpleHealth 5K benefitting Paramount Theatre in 2019.[14] Both Ascension Seton (title) and Under Armour (presenting) will return as sponsors for the 2021 Austin Marathon. KXAN will return as title sponsor for the 2021 KXAN SimpleHealth 5K.

Winners
Joseph Mutinda, seconds before victory in 2014, and months before disqualification for drug test failures[15]

Key:    Course record (in bold)

Ed. Date Male Winner Time Female Winner Time Rf.
1 1992.03.15  Alberto Puente (MEX) 2:24:00  Kay Jones (USA) 3:13:13
2 1993.03.07  Brad Hawthorne (USA) 2:17:53  Lori Norwood (USA) 2:47:08
3 1994.03.06  Doug Kurtis (USA) 2:21:35  Irina Bondarchuk (RUS) 2:42:22
4 1995.03.05  José Iniguez (MEX) 2:16:27  Andrea Bowman (USA) 2:40:19
5 1996.02.18  Dmitriy Kapitanov (RUS) 2:15:59  Svetlana Zakharova (RUS) 2:36:45
6 1997.02.16  Andrei Tarasov (RUS) 2:16:52  Alla Doudayeva (BLR) 2:39:55
7 1998.02.15  Abderrahim Benredouane (MAR) 2:16:45  Tamara Karlyakova (RUS) 2:37:55
8 1999.02.14  Peter Fleming (SCO) 2:17:14  Lydia Grigoryeva (RUS) 2:35:38
9 2000.02.20  Janko Benša (FRY) 2:14:18  Tatyana Titova (RUS) 2:34:03
10 2001.02.18  Mukhamet Nazipov (RUS) 2:11:14  Elena Paramonova (RUS) 2:32:56
11 2002.02.17  Andrzej Krzyścin (POL) 2:12:10  Marian Sutton (ENG) 2:31:43
12 2003.02.16  Andrzej Krzyścin (POL) 2:12:40  Sylvia Skvortsova (RUS) 2:37:22
13 2004.02.15  Andrzej Krzyścin (POL) 2:14:18  Tatyana Borisova (KGZ) 2:30:40
14 2005.02.13  Mikhail Khobotov (RUS) 2:12:38  Tatyana Borisova (KGZ) 2:31:01
15 2006.02.19  Mindaugas Pukstas (LTU) 2:13:43  Tatyana Pozdnyakova (UKR) 2:34:23
16 2007.02.18  Jynocel Basweti (KEN) 2:14:02  Moges Zebenaye (ETH) 2:39:46
17 2008.02.17  Jacob Frey (USA) 2:20:38  Lucy Hassell (ENG) 2:36:26
18 2009.02.15  Jeremy Borling (USA) 2:30:05  Elle Pishny (USA) 2:52:32
19 2010.02.14  Keith Pierce (USA) 2:20:35  Elle Pishny (USA) 2:53:16
20 2011.02.20  Keith Pierce (USA) 2:29:25  Desiree Ficker (USA) 2:50:35
21 2012.02.19  Edward Kiptum (KEN) 2:22:50  Shannon Bixler (USA) 3:02:28
22 2013.02.17  Omar Martinez (USA) 2:35:09  Mariko Neveu (USA) 2:55:04
23 2014.02.16  Kipkoech Ruto (KEN)[lower-alpha 1] 2:14:45  Marnie Staehly (USA) 2:57:27 [16][17][18]
24 2015.02.15  Betram Keter (KEN) 2:16:21  Cynthia Jerop (KEN) 2:54:22
25 2016.02.14  Hayato Sonodo (JPN) 2:23:30  Chandi Moore (USA) 3:02:39
26 2017.02.19  Joe Thorne (USA) 2:32:05  Allison Macsas (USA) 2:48:16
27 2018.02.18  Joey Whelan (USA) 2:21:37  Allison Macsas (USA) 2:43:11
28 2019.02.17  Joey Whelan (USA) 2:17:03  Heather Lieberg (USA) 2:42:27
29 2020.02.16  William Bertrand (USA) 2:28:11  Sarah Jackson (USA) 2:55:16 [19][20]
2021cancelled due to coronavirus pandemic[3]

Notes
  1. Joseph Mutinda of Kenya crossed the finish line first in 2:14:16, but was later disqualified for doping.[16][15]

References
  1. https://web.archive.org/web/20200929015042/http://mychiptime.com/searchevent.php?id=12876
  2. "Freescale drops marathon sponsorship". 2006-03-11. Retrieved 2009-01-12.
  3. https://web.archive.org/web/20201120004413/https://youraustinmarathon.com/austin-marathon-covid-19-plan/
  4. https://web.archive.org/web/20201120004407/https://youraustinmarathon.com/high-five-events-postpones-austin-marathon/
  5. https://web.archive.org/web/20201120004506/https://cbsaustin.com/news/local/austin-marathon-postponed-3m-half-marathon-for-2021-canceled
  6. https://web.archive.org/web/20200319063350/https://youraustinmarathon.com/course/
  7. Official Austin Marathon website, accessed Jan. 24, 2012
  8. Dyson (2020-05-11). "2020 Austin Gives Miles Raises More than $700,00 for Nonprofits". Austin Marathon. Retrieved 2020-08-10.
  9. Admin, Support (2019-09-23). "Ascension Seton Austin Marathon Injects $48.5 Million into Austin Economy". Austin Marathon. Retrieved 2020-08-10.
  10. Monti, David (2006-08-17). "Athletics: Austin Marathon Lands AT&T Texas As Title Sponsor". Race Results Weekly. Retrieved 2009-01-12.
  11. "NXP Semiconductors :: Financial Press Releases". investors.nxp.com. Retrieved 2016-11-22.
  12. Admin, Support (2018-08-06). "Under Armour, Inc. Returns as the Presenting Sponsor of the 2019 Austin Marathon". Austin Marathon. Retrieved 2020-08-10.
  13. Admin, Support (2019-08-20). "Austin Marathon Title Sponsor, Ascension Seton, Returns for Second Year". Austin Marathon. Retrieved 2020-08-10.
  14. Admin, Support (2019-08-27). "KXAN Simple Health Named Title Sponsor of Austin Marathon 5K". Austin Marathon. Retrieved 2020-08-10.
  15. Mutinda, winner of 2014 Austin Marathon, sanctioned by USADA statesman.com 25 March 2015
  16. https://web.archive.org/web/20201120162655/https://www.austin360.com/ENTERTAINMENT/20161012/Results-of-2014-Austin-Marathon-updated-after-winner-Joseph-Mutinda-admits-to-doping
  17. https://web.archive.org/web/20201120163503/https://www.worldathletics.org/athletes/-/14436539
  18. https://web.archive.org/web/20201120143944/https://www.statesman.com/article/20140217/SPORTS/302179698
  19. https://web.archive.org/web/20200929015042/https://www.statesman.com/sports/20200216/second-timersquos-charm-for-bertrand-in-austin-marathon
  20. https://web.archive.org/web/20200926222030/https://www.statesman.com/sports/20200216/front-runnerrsquos-loss-was-jacksonrsquos-gain-in-marathon-womenrsquos-race
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