Mardi Gras Half Marathon Finish Poydras 2009 All-Guard Marathon Team

Rock N Roll Marathon New Orleans St Charles Avenue Feb 2017 07

The Rock 'n' Roll New Orleans Marathon & 1/2 Marathon was an annual international

road running Road running is the sport of running on a measured course over an established road. This differs from track and field on a regular track and cross country running over natural terrain. These events are usually classified as long-distance ru ...

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), 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 ...

hosted in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

, United States, between 1965 and 2022. It was part of the

Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Series The Rock 'n' Roll Running Series is a collection of road running events owned and operated by the IRONMAN Group's Competitor Group, part of Advance Publications. The series is known for lining race routes with live bands, cheerleaders and themed w ...

organized by

Advance Publications Advance Publications, Inc. is a privately held American media company owned by the families of Donald Newhouse and Samuel Irving Newhouse Jr., the sons of company founder Samuel Irving Newhouse Sr. It owns publishing-related companies inc ...

' Ironman Group. The Ironman group announced in September 2022 that it was canceling all future running events in New Orleans due to conflicts with the city over routing and police staffing.

History

On , the New Orleans Road Runners Club held the inaugural race, named "The New Orleans Marathon," on the

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

levee A levee ( or ), dike (American English), dyke (British English; see American and British English spelling differences#Miscellaneous spelling differences, spelling differences), embankment, floodbank, or stop bank is an elevated ridge, natural ...

, from behind the

zoo A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility where animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for conservation purposes. The term ''zoological garden'' refers to zoology, ...

at Audubon Park to St. Rose and back. The race had 19 starters and 12 finishers, and was held with no aid stations. Harry Belin, a

Tulane University The Tulane University of Louisiana (commonly referred to as Tulane University) is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by a cohort of medical doctors, it b ...

student, won the race in 2:47:30. The marathon was held annually since, except for 1968. In the 1980s, a noted local participant was John Allen Dixon Jr., Chief Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court, who won the race in the over-60 category several times. The event was taken over by

Competitor Group Competitor Group, Inc. (CGI) is a privately held, for-profit, sports marketing and management company based in Mira Mesa, San Diego, California. The company owns and operates over 40 large scale running, cycling, and triathlon events; of which i ...

for the 2010 edition and adopted the Rock 'n' Roll Series name after its takeover.Fitzgerald, Matt (2010-02-28)
Lel, Adere Win Inaugural Rock 'n' Roll Mardi Gras Half Marathon
. Competitor Group. Retrieved on 2010-03-02. In 2010, the marathon was run as an open class or mass race while 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 ...

formed the elite section of the event. The elite competition started strongly, with

Martin Lel Martin Kiptolo Lel (born 29 October 1978) is a Kenyan professional long distance and marathon runner. He won the London Marathon in 2005, 2007, and 2008, the New York City Marathon in 2003 and 2007 and the Great North Run in 2007 and 2009. His ...

beating

Samuel Wanjiru Samuel Kamau Wanjiru (10 November 1986 – 15 May 2011) was a Kenyan long-distance runner who won the 2008 Beijing Olympics Marathon in an Olympic record time of 2:06:32; becoming the first Kenyan to win the Olympic gold in the marathon. He beca ...

in the men's section while

Berhane Adere Berhane Adere Debala ( Ge'ez: ብርሀኔ አደሬ born 21 July 1973) is a retired Ethiopian long-distance runner who specialised in the 10,000 metres and half marathon. She won the gold medal in the 10,000 m at the 2003 World Champions ...

and Kim Smith ran the fastest and third-fastest times ever on American soil, for first and second place respectively.Cruz, Dan (2010-03-01)
Adere clocks 1:07:52, Lel beats Wanjiru at New Orleans Half Marathon
.

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international sports governing body, governing body for the sport ...

. Retrieved on 2010-03-02. A total of around 13,000 runners participated in the day's events. In 2011, Kim Smith returned to set a 19-second personal best of 1:07:36, a new U.S. all-comer's record for the women's half marathon.Kim Smith Runs Fastest Half Marathon On U.S. Soil
. Competitor Group. Retrieved on 2011-02-14. The 2021 edition of the race was cancelled due to the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Course

Mardi Gras Marathon Starting Line All-Guard Marathon Team

The marathon started on

Poydras Street Poydras Street () is a street that serves as the main artery of the New Orleans Central Business District, in New Orleans, Louisiana. The street is named for Julien de Lallande Poydras. Many of the city of New Orleans' and the state of Louisiana ...

near Lafayette Square in the

Central Business District A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides wit ...

and ends in

City Park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a city park, municipal park (North America), public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park or botanical garden in cities, densely populated suburbia and other incorporate ...

near

Tad Gormley Stadium Tad Gormley Stadium (originally City Park Stadium) is a 26,500 seat multi-purpose outdoor stadium, located in City Park, in New Orleans, Louisiana. The stadium is home to the University of New Orleans Privateers men's and women's track and fie ...

. The course made significant use of St. Charles Avenue, Decatur Street, Esplanade Avenue, Wisner Boulevard, and Lakeshore Drive along

Lake Pontchartrain Lake Pontchartrain ( ; ) is an estuary located in southeastern Louisiana in the United States. It covers an area of with an average depth of . Some shipping channels are kept deeper through dredging. It is roughly oval in shape, about from w ...

Winners

Key: Course record (in bold)

Marathon

Half marathon

Notes

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rock 'n' Roll Mardi Gras Marathon Marathons in the United States

Road Running Road running is the sport of running on a measured course over an established road. This differs from track and field on a regular track and cross country running over natural terrain. These events are usually classified as long-distance ru ...

Recurring sporting events established in 2010