Avenue of change

Colorado Colfax Marathon seen as boost for economy, children's fitness

Jill Redding, Special to the News

Published May 13, 2006 at midnight

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Big-city marathons usually are created primarily as a celebration of physical fitness and endurance, with the city as a spectacular backdrop.

But one of Denver's two new marathons admits to having ulterior motives when the idea first was bounced around four years ago. The Post-News Colorado Colfax Marathon, set for May 21, is all about the street for which it's named. Seeking a unique way to highlight the improvements and business potential along Colfax Avenue, the idea of a marathon was hatched by Colfax on the Hill Inc.

"There were two principal reasons for this race to occur, and one of them had nothing to do with running a marathon," race co-manager Creigh Kelley said.

Colfax Avenue is conveniently 26 miles long, considered to be one of the longest continuous commercial streets in the country. The race will link the cities of Aurora, Denver and Lakewood, starting at the Sports Park in Aurora and finishing at Colorado Mills in Lakewood, veering off Colfax only for a brief foray into City Park.

While the race is largely about Colfax Avenue, there also is a heavy emphasis on the most important piece of the puzzle - the 6,000 participants expected to compete in either the marathon or the accompanying half-marathon. Several years of planning have gone into the event, whose title sponsor is the Denver Newspaper Agency. And road racing experts such as Kelley (his company, BKB Ltd., has put on hundreds of road races and a few marathons in Colorado) and Bolder Boulder 10K founder Steve Bosley were brought in as organizers and advisers.

In February, the event put the icing on the cake by hiring esteemed race director Mike Collins, who spent 10 years as the race director of the highly regarded Columbus Marathon in Ohio and is a past director of the U.S. Men's Olympic trials.

Collins immediately got on board with the race concept. In fact, he was inspired by it.

"What brought me here was the revitalization of Colfax," Collins said. "This marathon is part of a bigger enterprise, and that's what was exciting for me. It's focusing on economical and community development, and it has a commitment to children's physical fitness. It's part of a means to showcase America's Main Street, and this is really what it has become."

The Colfax Marathon Partnership Inc., a private, nonprofit organization founded by the cities of Aurora, Denver and Lakewood, created the Colorado Kids Marathon Milers, an incentive-based program for elementary school students in the Aurora, Jeffco and Denver school districts. Hundreds of children have been participating in a training program for the past three months for their own race, a marathon mile run/ walk set for May 20.

In addition, proceeds from the race will benefit Colorado Kids in the form of physical fitness programs, obesity-prevention and healthy-lifestyle education for schools in the three districts.

"We want children to understand how important physical fitness is," Kelley said.

Physical fitness also is important to the runners who will toe the line for the marathon or the half-marathon, which starts at City Park and finishes at Colorado Mills.

In addition, the marathon serves as the USA Track and Field road relay national championships, with teams of five competing for prize money or simply for fun, and the Colorado state marathon championships, which also offers prize money. There also will be a wheelchair division.

Because the marathon and half-marathon are point-to- point almost entirely on one street, Kelley said there were challenges to overcome from an organizational standpoint and a runner's standpoint. After all, running 26.2 miles on one street, in one direction, does not allow for much variety in an event that can take as long as six hours for some to finish.

Wheat Ridge physician Steve Krebs, who has run several Colorado marathons, said he is intrigued by the course.

"Yes, it will be straight, but it will provide a unique view of Denver, and the entire run will have great views of the mountains," Krebs said. "It will be hard, due to the altitude and the downhill start but uphill finish."

The course gains 279 feet of altitude, with most of the hills coming in the final seven miles.

"There are a couple of pops in the last three to four miles, so for a person who hasn't studied the course, those could be a little bit defeating," Kelley said. "But there is a really long downhill in the last couple of miles."

The other challenge is from a logistical standpoint.

"Colfax is the spine of the city," Collins said. "The difficulty (for traffic) is going to be crossing from north to south."

The marathon and half-marathon will start at 6 a.m. to provide the least possible inconvenience for those who live, work or travel along Colfax.

"The bulk of the course will be passable by 8:30 to 9," Collins said.

"We're begging the indulgence of the community, one Sunday morning, once a year, asking them to inconvenience themselves for the sake of what this represents."

Organizers for the Colorado Colfax Marathon and the new Denver Marathon, set for Oct. 15, are hoping to boost Denver's marathon reputation, which has been marred by such unsuccessful ventures as the Denver International Marathon in 1993 and the Mile High City Marathon, a race that enjoyed modest success but went down in flames when it was canceled 24 hours before the 2004 event.

Kelley is well aware of the pressure to succeed.

"On a daily basis, I've never worked so much on anything in my entire life," he said. "We say bring the pressure - it deserves the scrutiny. If I were a potential participant in this market, I would ask logically, 'Are you for real?' You've got to look at the people who are playing roles in this thing and look at the sponsors. It's going to be a really decent inaugural event, so I would want to hook up with it."

The rundown

• What: Post-News Colorado Colfax Marathon and Half-Marathon

• When: Sunday, May 21.

• Start: 6 a.m., at the Sports Park in Aurora.

• Registration: www.active.com through Wednesday, or in person at the race expo Friday-May 20 at the Colorado Convention Center.

• Information: www.ColoradoColfaxMarathon.com

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