The Cowtown Marathon is an annual

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

held every last weekend in February in

Fort Worth Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. The two-day activities include two 5Ks, a 10K, the

half marathon A half marathon is a road running event of —half the distance of a marathon. It is common for a half marathon event to be held concurrently with a marathon or a 5K race, using almost the same course with a late start, an early finish or shortcu ...

and

ultra marathon An ultramarathon, also called ultra distance or ultra running, is any footrace longer than the traditional marathon length of . Various distances are raced competitively, from the shortest common ultramarathon of to over . 50k and 100k are bot ...

. With 29,000 participants in 2014, the Cowtown is the largest multi-event in Texas. The Cowtown Marathon was founded by the

University of North Texas Health Science Center The University of North Texas Health Science Center (UNTHSC, UNT Health Science Center, or hsc) is a public academic health science center in Fort Worth, Texas. It is part of the University of North Texas System and was founded in 1970 as the T ...

in 1978, with proceeds benefiting local charities and non-profit organizations.Cowtown Marathon - 2012 Brochure
The Cowtown Children's Activities for Life & Fitness Program provides training, grants and running shoes to children in need. Current non-profits include the

American Cancer Society The American Cancer Society (ACS) is a nationwide voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer. Established in 1913, the society is organized into six geographical regions of both medical and lay volunteers operating in more than ...

, the

Leukemia & Lymphoma Society The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS), a 501(c)(3) charitable organization founded in 1949, is the largest voluntary health organization dedicated to fighting blood cancer in the world. The LLS's mission is to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's l ...

, and Team RWB which is a support organization for wounded veterans and their families. The program gave away 5,000 pairs of new running shoes to children in 2017. The races start and end in Fort Worth's cultural district, run through the Stockyards, go through

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

and circle TCU and Fort Worth's southside. Elevation changes can range up to 150 ft. The Cowtown marathon and ultra marathon are

Boston Marathon The Boston Marathon is an annual marathon race hosted by several cities and towns in greater Boston in eastern Massachusetts, United States. It is traditionally held on Patriots' Day, the third Monday of April. Begun in 1897, the event was i ...

qualifying events. The Cowtow
Cook Children's
5K race was named the top kids running event in the nation b
USA Running
with 5,300 children registered to run in 2012.

Notable events

In 2012 Scott Downard of Norman, Okla., finished first in the Cowtown marathon by outrunning his competitors by more than six minutes. However, Downard was disqualified because he was not registered and he was wearing another person's bib. Runner-up Kolin Styles became the winner. Styles' brother Koby won the ultra marathon. In 2014

Michael Wardian Michael Wardian (born April 12, 1974) is an American marathoner and ultra-marathoner. He won the 2008, 2009 and 2010 US 50 km championships and the 2011 US 50 mile championship. In 2008, he won the U.S. National 100 km championship. W ...

, a four-time USA Track and Field Ultra Runner of the Year, sped around the 31-mile course in 3 hours and 21 minutes, shattering the course record by slightly more than 10 minutes. In 2015 Cowtown and city officials cancelled all events except the half-marathon, citing safety concerns about the secondary streets in shaded neighborhoods because of a snow and ice storm. About 30,000 runners had registered for the weekend's races. In 2016, Elizabeth Northern of Fort Worth, TX finished the Ultra Marathon in 3:21:04, beating the previous course record by over 30 minutes.

References

{{reflist

External links

Official websiteList of sponsorsList of charities2012 Cowtown Race Results
Marathons in the United States Recurring sporting events established in 1978 Sports in Fort Worth, Texas