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The Austin Marathon (also known as Ascension Seton Austin Marathon presented by Under Armour for sponsorship reasons) is an annual marathon held in Austin,
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
, since 1992. The race weekend also features a
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 shortcut ...
and a
5K run The 5K run is a long-distance road running competition over a distance of . Also referred to as the 5K road race, 5 km, or simply 5K, it is the shortest of the most common road running distances. It is usually distinguished from the 5000 me ...
with a two-day expo taking place on Friday and Saturday. The 31st annual event is scheduled to take place on February 19, 2023. The race begins at 7:00 in the morning and features a highly competitive elite field. It is livestreamed by
FloSports FloSports is an over-the-top subscription sports broadcaster and streaming service. The company is based in Austin, Texas, United States, and was founded in 2006. FloSports streams live sporting events to audiences around the world. History La ...
. Participants typically include runners from all 50 U.S. states and about 35 countries. Due to the
coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identifie ...
, the 2021 edition of the Austin Marathon was postponed to and didn’t include the marathon distance.


History

It was founded in 1991 by Motorola, who served as title sponsor for fifteen years. The 2021 edition of the marathon was cancelled, while the other races of the weekend were postponed to , due to the
coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identifie ...
, with all registrants given the option of transferring their entry to the new date, or to 2022, 2023, or 2024.https://web.archive.org/web/20201120004413/https://youraustinmarathon.com/austin-marathon-covid-19-plan/ To properly mark the event's 30th anniversary with a running of the full marathon, anniversary celebrations would be extended to 2022.


Course

The Austin Marathon and Austin Half Marathon both start at 2nd St. and Congress Avenue. The course goes by Austin landmarks and areas, like downtown, the
Colorado River The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. s ...
, SoCo, historic Hyde Park, East Austin, and the
University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,07 ...
campus and tower. Bands perform live music along the race route in a tribute to Austin's label as The Live Music Capital of the World. The race ends near where it begins at 9th and Congress Ave. in front of the picturesque
Texas State Capitol The Texas State Capitol is the capitol and seat of government of the American state of Texas. Located in downtown Austin, Texas, the structure houses the offices and chambers of the Texas Legislature and of the Governor of Texas. Designed in 1881 ...
. The course is
USATF USA Track & Field (USATF) is the United States national governing body for the sports of track and field, cross country running, road running and racewalking (known as the sport of athletics outside the US). The USATF was known between 1979 a ...
-certified. The course that debuted in 2018 was designed to provide a better participant and spectator experience and allow enhanced traffic flow along the course, while still finishing with the picturesque Texas State Capitol as every runner’s backdrop. The first half of the Austin Marathon was not changed. After Mile 12, half marathoners head south to the finish line, while marathoners continue east before turning north and running on Guadalupe St. through the heart of the University of Texas campus.


Other races

In addition to the marathon held on Sunday, the Austin Marathon weekend features a free official shakeout run on Saturday morning since 2022 (previously Friday) at Fleet Feet Austin. Also on Sunday morning, the half marathon and KXAN SimpleHealth 5K benefitting Paramount Theatre start at the same location as the marathon on 2nd and Congress. The 5K starts 30–45 minutes later and is an out and back course while the marathon and half marathon finishes on 9th and Congress. The event featured the Manzano Mile presented by Dole on the Saturday morning before the marathon in 2018-2020 taking place just outside the expo site on Riverside Drive. The 2021 race was scheduled to take place the same morning as the other races but later became a virtual race, where participants run the distance on their own schedule and submit their time online. A mile race did not take place during the 2022 marathon weekend.


Community impact

Austin Gives Miles, the marathon's official charity program, raised $702,500 in 2020. The 25 Central Texas nonprofit organizations accepted into the program worked to exceed the program’s fundraising goal while increasing awareness of their organization and recruiting race day volunteers. Since 2014, Austin Gives Miles has raised $3.8 million for Central Texas nonprofit organizations. In 2019,
Moody Foundation The Moody Foundation is a charitable foundation incorporated in Texas and based in the island city of Galveston. It was chartered in 1942 by William Lewis Moody Jr. and his wife Libbie Rice Shearn Moody ''"to benefit, in perpetuity, present and ...
became presenting sponsor for Austin Gives Miles. Since 2015, Austin Gives Miles has been a Moody Foundation grant recipient. During this time, their total contributions have reached $1.2 million. The Austin Marathon injected $48.5 million into the Austin economy during the 2019 race weekend. 2019's economic impact on the City of Austin is a $11 million (23 percent) increase from the 2018 event.


Sponsorship

Marathon founder Motorola served as the marathon's title sponsor for fifteen years. The marathon was sponsored by AT&T in 2007 and 2008, but ran with no title sponsor in 2009. From 2010 to 2013, the race was called the LIVESTRONG Austin Marathon. Freescale returned as presenting sponsor in 2014 and 2015. NXP Semiconductors and Freescale completed their merger in December 2015, with NXP becoming the presenting sponsor for 2016 and 2017.
Under Armour Under Armour, Inc. is an American sports equipment company that manufactures footwear, sports and casual apparel. Under Armour's global headquarters are located in Baltimore, Maryland, with additional offices located in Amsterdam (European head ...
was the presenting sponsor of the 2018 Austin Marathon, but had no title sponsor. In 2019, an agreement was reached naming Ascension Seton the title sponsor. Under Armour also returned as presenting sponsor for the 2019 Austin Marathon.
KXAN-TV KXAN-TV (channel 36) is a television station in Austin, Texas, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside Llano-licensed MyNetworkTV affiliate KBVO (channel 14); Nexstar also provides certain services to KN ...
became title sponsor of the KXAN SimpleHealth 5K benefitting Paramount Theatre in 2019. Both Ascension Seton (title) and Under Armour (presenting) will return as sponsors for the 2022 Austin Marathon. KXAN will return as title sponsor for the 2022 KXAN SimpleHealth 5K.


Winners

Key: Course record (in bold)


Notes


References


External links

{{Commons category, Austin Marathon
Marathon InfoThat Other Paper story by a 2007 Austin Marathon runner
Recurring sporting events established in 1992 Marathons in the United States Marathon 1992 establishments in Texas