Hitting the PR Gong after race walking racewalking or speed walking the Columbus Marathon Half.

Episode 10 Podcast – Darris Blackford Goes the Extra Mile for the Columbus Marathon

In the week leading up the the 2014 Columbus Marathon, Race Director Darris Blackford was facing 10 major things that were all going terribly wrong. In the years that he has been the race director, it was the first time he had to deal with so many crises that close to race weekend.

In this episode of the WALK Magazine Podcast, I talk with Darris about the issues he faced in that week, including the expectation that the finisher medals would not arrive in time.

We also talk about the marathon Board’s decision to change the length of time the race course is open from 7 hours to only 6 hours in 2015 and how that will affect marathon walkers. The half marathon will remain open 3.5 hours.

In this Episode

  • Why were the finisher medals held up?
  • How and when the medals finally arrived in Columbus.
  • About 16,000 athletes finished the event.
  • About 2,000 finishers were affected by the medal delay.
  • How did participants respond?
  • Where the medals are manufactured and why.
  • Why the race is shortening the length of time the course is open.
  • Community response to the Marathon.
  • Remember when walkers started an hour early? (I was Walking Director of the Marathon back then.)
  • Fewer than 200 of the athletes who finished the 2014 marathon took more than 6 hours.
  • Other marathons, including Chicago and Twin Cities, have a 6-hour time limit.
  • Columbus is a great market for races.
  • 1,000 spots are being added to the half marathon for 2015.
  • Corrals will be handled differently to ease crowding.
  • 35% of participants responded to the after-race survey! (4% is considered a good response.)
  • Respondents made 10,000 additional comments.

For more information about the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Marathon go to the website www.columbusmarathon.com/ or Facebook www.facebook.com/ColumbusMarathon.

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Comments

Celso Fernandez
March 3, 2015 at 2:02 pm

Darris Blackford is the main reason the Columbus Marathon/Half Marathon is one of my favorite races. I am sure he does not get enough of the credit and too much of the blame. Thank you Darris for all you do and we do not even know about it. Hope to be there in 2016.



    March 4, 2015 at 11:07 am

    I agree! The Columbus Marathon has had an entirely different feel to it — more energy, more fun — since Darris took over.



Gary Goldblatt
March 4, 2015 at 9:22 am

Great interview! Very interesting and informative to hear the “behind the scenes” side of a race of that size. Thanx!



Darris
March 5, 2015 at 12:48 pm

Thank you for letting me share my story, and for your continued support!



Deb Chenault
March 6, 2015 at 7:42 pm

Another great interview! Very enjoyable and informative. Wish it had lasted even longer! You and Darris are developing a good rapport which makes it even more enjoyable to listen to–like listening in on a friends’ conversation. Great job.



Comments are closed.