It couldn’t have been a more beautiful day on Saturday for the Mill Race Marathon.
In the 11th installment of Columbus’ signature athletic event, runners also had the opportunity to see the city’s amazing architecture, downtown Columbus and picturesque neighborhood streets in cool and pleasant weather conditions as family and friends cheered them on at the starting line.
To help with traffic flow of cars and runners combined, runners minimized interaction with busy city streets, but the race still went over the Stewart bridge and near other well-known landmarks around the city.
This is the second year back under normal conditions. The entire Mill Race Marathon was canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, the 5K and the half marathon were still contested, but the full marathon was canceled due to not having enough volunteers. Last year, the race went as scheduled. The inaugural Mill Race Marathon was run in 2013.
Cory Kirkham of Carmel was the men’s marathon winner in 2:50:29 and Sheridan McKinley of Edmond, Oklahoma was the women’s marathon winner in 3:01:33.
McKinley said this was her first time visiting Columbus and Indiana in general.
“It’s been great. It’s a super cute town,” McKinley said. “I love all the art installations around. It’s really beautiful. The course was great. I felt like I got to see quite a bit of it.”
A total of approximately 2,222 runners combined in the full marathon, half marathon and 5K. There were 133 runners who completed the marathon, 887 for the half marathon and 1,200 completed the 5K run and walk.
Saturday’s weather was ideal for distance running as the heat and humidity didn’t play a big factor. The temperature was in the 60s to low 70s for the majority of the race. There was also no threat of rain.
With those pleasant conditions, heat-related problems were minimal.
“The medical tents were mostly quiet. Everyone seemed to be doing really well,” race director Randy Stafford said.
In a retooled design course this year, the biggest change from the previous year was that at the 7-mile marker, runners went onto 16th Street and turned south on Lafayette Avenue, then turned south on Lafayette Avenue all the way to Central Middle School, then west on Fifth Street and back north on Franklin Street until returning to 16th Street.
The marathon and half-marathon were identical for the first 12 miles, expect for the final mile where the half-marathon runners turned on Washington Street for the finish line. During miles 13 through 16, marathon runners ran a loop through Noblitt and Mill Race Parks. The majority of the second half of the full marathon race followed the Columbus People Trail along Haw Creek.
“The changes this year were awesome,” Kirkham said. “There’s a lot more trail, and last year, you had to double loop through the city. I definitely loved the changes this year. It was great. I wish I could run here all the time. The People Trail was great.”
Stafford estimates that 500 volunteers helped out during the event. Law enforcement officers from around the state assisted the Columbus Police Department, Bartholomew County Sheriff Department and Indiana State Police with directing traffic and course security.
Stafford was pleased that the marathon proceeded smoothly without any major hiccups.
“Everything went really well. We struggled a little with volunteers out on the course, and we knew we were going to do that because we didn’t have as many volunteers as in the past,” Stafford said. “We were shifting people around as we needed to. We got a lot of help around the community and all the comments I heard was that people were impressed.”
For a complete roundup of the winners and their finish times, with more race coverage, visit therepublic.com.
For a complete roundup of all of the finishers in the race, visit millracemarathon.com.
By the numbers:
133 completed the marathon
887 completed the half-marathon
1,200 completed the 5K
