Mankato Marathon sees registration spike

MANKATO, Minn. (KEYC) - This past weekend’s Twin Cities Marathon was cancelled day-of due to heat.

That same day, Mankato’s upcoming marathon saw a rapid jump in registrations, as disappointed runners turned their marathon season plans to Mankato.

“We had almost 300 registrations yesterday, with our original max for our full relay being at 350 sold out in a matter of 15 minutes. We were able to increase that so our max course now for our full is 650,” said Joy Leafblad

Local race experts say that the spike in registrations isn’t a surprise, as many runners have been preparing for months and are determined to make their race plans happen.

“It’s really demoralizing to have that happen, but what ends up happening is a lot of people end up going and looking for other races to do. They have all this capability, they have all this buildup and now they need, they want to actually use that,” said TJ Jeanette.

Local runners say that this increase in sign-ups will be an opportunity to compete with a much larger crop of runners, while also being an opportunity to showcase their local scene in an event that is an annual highlight for many.

“I think that’s pretty consistent for marathons, hometown marathons, is that the local people really support them and they choose to do it. It’s easy to do you know, you can get out of your bed and go and run your marathon and that’s a lot of fun,” said Jeanette.

The Mankato Marathon kicks off Oct. 20.

The Mankato Marathon is still looking for volunteers to help with the record amount of runners expected this year. You can volunteer at https://www.mankatomarathon.com/

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