What Twin Cities Marathon organizers have learned after 2023′s heat cancellation

Andrea Haus, who is running Sunday’s TC 10-mile, said the excitement is back and that the weekend remains a point of pride. “For local runners here, the Twin Cities Marathon weekend is like our Super Bowl,” added Haus, Mill City Running’s community and marketing manager.

TCM’s moves in the wake of the cancellation, like full refunds and special early registration to this year’s events for 2023 participants, also garnered goodwill, Haus said. At least 9,700 who had signed up last year are signed up to run their same events this weekend, TCM communications manager Charlie Mahler said.

A third of the marathon field each year is new — participants doing their first marathon, Orton said, and that data point has made committing to informing runners about training and smart preparation everywhere.

“We’ve realized there are a lot of folks new to the huge challenge of safely running a marathon,” Orton said. “How do we help them, even more? Even if you have run eight of them, I would assume there is always something more to learn.”

This weekend could be a banner event, TCM officials said. The current Weather Service forecast for Sunday is sunny with a high near 72, with a low of about 56 Saturday night.

“In totality, we are looking at (runner) numbers that are as good as we’ve ever done,” Whetham said. This weekend’s races, including Saturday’s 10-kilometer run, 5K and family events in St. Paul, will have the most participants since before the pandemic, with upwards of 28,000 (12,000 in the 10 mile and 9,000, a sellout, in the marathon) . “The response has been good and really encouraging.”