I am always hearing about some really interesting marathons. Many of them really pique my interest but I cannot run them all. I will begin making posts of these marathons with the disclaimer that these are not marathons that I have necessarily run but are events that really sound of interest to me. If you do end up running any of the marathons I write about, please let me know what your thoughts were of the event!
Cool Marathon Alert: Darlington Marathon
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post about inaugural marathons and asked if you run them. I listed a few inaugural marathons I found for this fall and I really do not know how I missed this one! This is the Darlington Marathon – it starts at the Darlington Raceway Museum and ends in the Winners Circle at the oldest Nascar track in the country, the Darlington Raceway. For NASCAR fans, I would think this is a have-to race at some point during its existence.
I LOVE marathons that have really interesting finish line scenes. Football stadiums, memorials, baseball stadiums are all fantastic places to end a marathon. A race track has to really be fascinating! Not only do I like great finish lines, I like great medals. Yes, all of my medals are currently in storage in a box I will not be able to find right away, but they are still really cool. I have some really great medals that convey what the race was about – like my Air Force Marathon medal featuring the C5 Galaxy (also the heaviest medal I own). This one has a really great medal also. It not only has a great medal, but it also incorporates the theme of the marathon in the lanyard as well.
An awesome marathon medal!
Getting There
Nearest Airports:
- Charlotte International Airport (NC) – 100 miles
- Columbia Metropolitan Airport (SC) – 86 miles
- Fayetteville Regional Airport (SC) – 86 miles
- Raleigh-Durham International Airport (NC) – 166 miles
- Myrtle Beach International Airport (SC) – 78 miles
The best options for using miles to get there would be either Charlotte International Airport (which is a hub airport for US Airways), Myrtle Beach International Airport, and Raleigh-Durham International Airport.
Your airline award options include all the major carriers. With some exceptions, it is 25,000 miles from anywhere in the US to any of the airports above (at the low level). The exceptions are:
- Southwest (revenue based, so could be only a few thousand points or many)
- US Airways (if you hold the US Airways credit card, you will receive a 5,000 mile break on the price)
- United (for United flights less than 700 miles, it requires 20,000 miles round-trip)
- American (if flying from LaGuardia in NY or Chicago, only 9,000 points round-trip / if flying from Dallas or Miami, only 15,000 points round-trip when using British Airways Avios – see this post for information on that)
A lot of options to get there! It will all come down to what your mileage accounts look like (and keep in mind that Raleigh-Durham has historically low revenue fares as well).
Race Details
I cannot wait to do this marathon (will not be this year). Hopefully, some of you will be able to do it at some point as well. Here are the details:
- Marathon: Darlington Marathon
- Date: September 28, 2013
- Time: 7:00AM
- Place: Darlington, SC
- Races: Marathon, Half-marathon, 10K, 5K
- Cost: $75 (Marathon), $45 (half-marathon), $35 (10K), $25 (5K)
- Website: Website
So, what do you think? Does it look like a cool, interesting race?
