Organizers Say 2017 Frederick Running Festival Draws Large Number Of Runners

It’s up by 7% compared to last year.

 

 
Frederick, Md (KM). About 7500 runners will be participating in the 2017 Frederick Running Festival this weekend at the Frederick Fairgrounds. During a news briefing Thursday at City Hall, Lee Corrigan, the President of Corrigan Sports Enterprises which is putting on the event, says this is a 7% increase compared to last year. He says these runners come from 31 states, the District of Columbia, France, Canada and Uruguay.

 

The Frederick Running Festival is in its 15th year, and Corrigan says it’s seen a lot. “We’ve seen snow, believe it or not. We’ve seen rain. We’ve seen tent-wrecking winds one year. We showed up the next day and all of our tents were completely wrecked because 50-mile-an-hour winds came in and upended everything.”

 

But two things have remained constant about the Frederick Running Festival. “There is the growth of the event, and the great community support that we’ve received from everybody from the Mayor to the residents to the churches to the businesses here in Frederick,” says Corrigan. “And that has allowed us to grow this event from about 1,000 to this year about 7500 runners, total.”

 

1,000 of those runners will participate in the 5K, and 4500 will be running in the half-marathon..

 

The Frederick Running Festival has also been a boon for the city and its businesses. A study by the RESI, an economic research and consulting firm located at Towson University, has found that the event generated $3.5-million in economic activity. City Economic Development Director Richard Griffin says this results because the runners and their families and friends come to Frederick and spend their money “They carbo-load in our restaurants. They tell race stories over local brews in our craft breweries and distilleries about how they broke their best personal time. They gear up with latest retail items in our plentiful shops. They fuel their chariots up at our local convenience gas stations. And, oh yes, we do like to hear the sound of those local cash registers singing, don’t we,” he said.

 

In addition, Griffin says these runners spread the word about Frederick. “They wear their gear all over the US and abroad. They tweet, post, share their experiences in Frederick on a multitude of social media platforms which quickly markets Frederick as a great place to live, visit, work, play and shop,” he says.

 

Mayor Randy McClement says it took a while for citizens to accept the Running Festival, especially if the runners came through their neighborhoods. But that’s changed. “The amount of people who have run parties, who bring their neighbors out on the curbs in front of their houses and all get together and drink beer and watch you guys go by and cheer you on: it’s amazing,” he said.

 

The 2017 Frederick Running Festival takes place at the Fairgrounds. On Saturday, there will be the Kids Fun Run at 5:00 PM, and the Frederick Food and Ankle 5K at 6:00 PM. The Half Marathon begins on East Patrick Street in front of the Fairgrounds on Sunday at 7:00 AM.

 

Frederick Foot and Ankle will be the title sponsor for the Frederick Running Festival this year.

 

By Kevin McManus