Going Into Marine Marathon

Yearly,there are  no less than 500 marathon events held all over the world. The Olympics is not just the major event for serious runners since they can join the world’s ultra 5 marathon held in London, Berlin, Boston and other key cities in the world. By doing so,they can improve one’s personal record, also, these marathons can take you to historic sites that are completely fantastic. On the other hand,there exists a special marathon created for the elite soldiers – marine marathon. First of all, this is a special marathon since members of the U.S. marine corps are the participants in this race. Truly, majority of the participants here are exceptionally healthy since they are not just fitness buffs, they are the Marines corps.

The Marine marathon known as the Marine Corps marathon is the 4th largest US Marathon which never fails to draw large crowds. A unique characteristic of the marine marathon is that there is no prize money at all. For this reason, it is called “The People’s Marathon”. The origin of this event can be traced back to a Colonel named Jim Fowler according to history courtesy of marinemarathon website. The Vietnam War left a negative impression on the military, also, distance running was a popular sport way back then. This made Col Fowler to tell his superiors his ideas on the marine marathon which has four great motives: promote goodwill to the community, present the Marine Corps, a tool for recruitment and give the chance to Marines to qualify for the Boston Marathon. The Boston Marathon is hard to join since it required a certain personal record before you are allowed to participate.

The rest is history as ever since all the marines started joining which even prompted the navy secretary Middendorf to donate a handsome trophy. It was really meant to be as the ad agency J Walter Thompson took charge of the advertisement along with the support of Runner’s magazine. Even an Olympic Team member of the corps, Sgt.Alex Breckinridge contributed efforts in promoting the event and attending the planning sessions. Indeed, one man’s vison became the well respected marine marathon held yearly. Each marine that crosses the finish line of the marine marathon feel proud.