Organizers Prepare for the Chattanooga Marathon

After 10 months of planning the first Chattanooga Marathon is underway.

The marathon has 15 different sponsors and about 40 different vendors around the First Tennessee Pavilion.

Eleven organizations came together to make this event a reality.

Marathon organizer, Stacey Malecky, said members of the Chattanooga Track Club were responsible for several weeks designing the route.

“About 20 people came together with over 300 marathons between them. They sat down and pin pointed which areas of Chattanooga to highlight. We went through and determined which roads were most run-able and most runner friendly and which neighborhoods we wanted to see.”

Saturday brought thousands of people out for the 5K and the kid’s 1 mile race.

The marathon is also bringing a lot people from out of town.

Marathon organizer, Tim Morgan, and analysts projected about 35% of participants will be from outside of the Chattanooga area..

“We are an outdoor destination. We are a running community. We are an innovative community. We are a music community so when we combined all those qualities and attributes together it really showcases how we are as one Chattanooga region.”

Organizers are all ready gearing up for next year.

“It’s been a wonderful ride to collectively look at this project with one vision to accomplish one mission, which is hosting the next successful running event in the Chattanooga region .”

The Half marathon, team relay and the full marathon kick off at 8 am for a full list of road closures click here.