May is a key month to promote the Detroit Free Press/Flagstar Bank Marathon. This weekend, Marathon staff members will be traveling to several major expos in the Midwest to get runners to sign up and prepare for this Fall's event now scheduled for October 6^th.

The Indy Mini half Marathon, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati's Flying Pig Marathons are key venues to encourage runners to come to Detroit.  When these athletes and their guests come from out of town, they usually fill up available hotel space, spend money at local restaurants and visit tourist sites. By doing so, they make the event viable to sponsors, organizers and especially city governments who commit their resources to the operation of the marathon.

Last year, almost thirty percent of Detroit's participants came from outside the Detroit area.  Indianapolis, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati are ideal places to promote because they have first class expos and a large number of long distance runners.

Indianapolis has the largest half marathon in the country. Entries close out at 26,000. It's a big sports town. In addition to several pro and minor league sport venues, the NCAA Hall of Champions is located in the heart of the city.  The "mini" marathon course starts and finishes downtown.  Two separate starts help the huge sea of runners get to their pace quickly. Emulating the Boston Marathon, runners will now be placed in corrals based on predicted finishing times. About midway into the race, runners have the opportunity to tread on the Indy racing car track for 2.5 miles. The race also features 17 sponsored "Pit Stops" and almost thirty bands.

Pittsburgh's Marathon features a new start and finish location this year, which will be conducted at the just completed Heinz Field, home of the Steelers. The brand new David Lawrence Convention Center will be a new home for the event's expo. The Marathon has been the site of several national championships and the last Olympic Trials.  Mayor Tom Murphy can be seen running the race that traverses one of the most livable cities in America. 

Ohio has been one of Detroit's prime sources for out of town runners and guests. The Flying Pig Marathon in Cincinnati, aptly named for the city's reputation as a pork producing capital, has grown to over 4,000 participants in just four years.  The creative merchandising of the flying pig medals, t-shirts and posters has intrigued many runners to give this event a try. It's theme pokes fun at itself and organizers have a lot of fun with it too.  The marathon course of varying terrain, blends neighborhoods with downtown and has good crowd and entertainment support. The finish line atmosphere in a park on the river has plenty of things for the families to do while waiting for the finishers.

Race of the Week: Saturday, May 4, Birmingham, Race Judicata � 23^rd Annual, 5 and 10km, 9:30 am, Call 238 334-2400