SALT LAKE CITY — Runners will put their feet to the pavement Saturday morning for the twenty-first Salt Lake City marathon.
Jennifer Nelson, the Marketing Director of High Altitude Special Events Management, which owns the event. She says the participation in this year's event is up about 26 to 27 percent, surpassing their record-breaking year in 2023.
"We have over 8,300 athletes registered for the event from all 50 states and at last count we had 20 countries that will be represented," said Nelson.
Nelson says it is not just people coming from all over, but also participating of all ages.
"We have kids that are under one that are going to be out there maybe with their little walkers, starting up to people that are well into their eighties and nineties that are coming out and participating," said Nelson.
Brittany Casey made the trip to Salt Lake City from Oakley, Idaho.
"We've traveled quite a bit for all my runs with the family.," said Casey.
Casey says she has run half marathons in five states.
"I just take it mile by mile a lot of the times for me when I hit that 10-mile mark, I'm like, oh, last three miles is easy," said Casey.
This will be Casey's first half marathon in Salt Lake City, and she will have plenty of support by her side.
"I've got my husband and my four kids and then also I've got my best friend, her husband and her little boy, I love it," said Casey. "It's nice when you finish the, when you cross that finish line and they're screaming and they're excited and they just want to come and give you a big hug."
Others also making the trip to the Beehive State to take part in the marathon.
Jeff Sankoff and his 14-year-old son, Adam flew in from Denver, Colorado.
"I've wanted to come to Salt Lake before, so this was an opportunity and the course is downhill, which is nice," Jeff said.
Jeff is running the half marathon, while Adam will run the 10K.
"I'm just excited to be here with him," Adam said.
For participants, they are just taking in the experience.
"It's just a wholesome group of people there to achieve individual goals and support one another and so that's what keeps me going," said Casey.
The Salt Lake City Marathon consists of six events happening in one day, kicking off Saturday morning with a bike tour at six o'clock.
If you are not participating in or watching the marathon, you'll want to avoid the course.
Here is the map.
The roads they are using will be closed for up to seven hours.
You could also experience traffic delays on roads that cross the route, as police hold traffic for runners.
