Registration is now open for one of the area’s premier running events. The Newport Marathon will take place on Sunday, October 9, 2016 and will once again draw thousands of runners to Newport and Middletown, Rhode Island.
Event organizers anticipate the race will sell out at a capacity of 4,000 participants. The marathon will attract runners from across the country as they seek to race for 26.2 or 13.1 miles through Newport County.
The courses will feature winding ocean-side roads, miles of waterfront views, long stretches of historic Thames Street, and sweeping vistas of the grand mansions along Bellevue Avenue. (A full map of the courses is available here.)
The race-course is USATF-certified and can be used as a qualifier for the Boston Marathon as well as other major marathon events. Each participant will receive finisher’s medals and technical shirts, and awards will be given to the top three finishers in each age group for both the marathon and half-marathon.
“We feel this is a premier running event, and truly one of the most beautiful marathon and half-marathon courses in the country,” said Matthew Gray, President of Gray Matter Marketing, the event organizer.
The Newport Marathon will once again promote a prominent charitable component. Gray Matter Marketing will donate more than $50,000 to local charitable organizations. Beneficiaries of the Newport Marathon for 2015 were the Ronald McDonald House of Providence, the Aquidneck Land Trust, the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center, Boys Town New England, and the Newport County YMCA.
Additionally, participants will be encouraged to raise funds for their own charitable causes and initiatives, or donate funds to existing campaigns on the Newport Marathon Crowdrise page. In 2015, the event helped raise more than $70,000 for local non-profits.