The Dallas Marathon board of trustees today announced changes to the new course routes for the 43rd running of the MetroPCS Dallas Marathon, Half Marathon and 5-Person Relay. The updates to the preliminary course designs, released in May, will help ensure runner and bystander safety, decrease traffic impact and improve the runner experience in the longterm.
“After diligently working with DART, the Dallas Police Department, the Dallas Park and Recreation Department, the Dallas Convention & Visitors Bureau, Dallas City Hall and the mayor, we feel we can guarantee that our race will provide a safe and enhanced experience for all marathon runners and spectators,” said Dallas Marathon Executive Director Marcus Grunewald. “The 2012 course will still offer a flat, fast race with ample entertainment.”
Marathon officials met with city administrators to approve course maps earlier this week, with the half marathon map incorporating more major realignments. The half course will now run clockwise with a slight reordering of the neighborhoods traversed.
A greater section of the 13.1-mile course will be spent on Cedar Springs Road along Turtle Creek, leading to Armstrong Avenue. The half marathon will return south via Cedar Springs and pass by Klyde Warren Park as the race nears completion.
“We believe this is a very positive change, as it will prove more efficient for spectatorship,” said Dallas Marathon Race Director Lear Johnson. “The Turtle Creek area is very dense with apartments and condos, making it easy for our 300,000 onlookers to watch marathoners in action.”
Race officials worked to include new landmarks along the racecourse including the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge, Klyde Warren Park, West Dallas Loop and Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children.
“This will be the first year in Dallas Marathon history that both the half and full marathon course will run by Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children,” said Kevin Snyder, chairman of the Dallas Marathon board of trustees. “We are excited to showcase our beneficiary to all 25,000 participants in this year’s races.”
Marathon officials have responded to runner concerns and have revised the full marathon course to reduce the distance on Mockingbird Lane by re-routing through the Lakewood neighborhoods. The route will now cross over Highway 75 via McCommas Boulevard and Ellsworth Avenue on the way to White Rock Lake. This change will shorten the proposed stretch on Mockingbird Lane and provide runners with scenic neighborhood views.
With these new course changes, the 5-person relay will still follow the full marathon route. Each leg will remain four to six miles as advertised.
Both races start and finish in downtown Dallas; each finish line will be expanded to three lanes to warrant more space and improve runner safety.
Participant registration for the 2012 MetroPCS Dallas Marathon is capped at 25,000 participants for 2012. The Dec. 9, 2012, race is expected to sell out, with registration fees increasing on October 16.
Visit dallasmarathon.com for more information. | 
