Marathon effects on local communities: traffic vs. economic impact
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The city council of Stillwater, MN is considering whether to approve a town marathon scheduled for Memorial Day weekend 2009. The idea for the race came from a citizen, Dave Eckberg who noticed the town is unusually quiet the weekend before the unofficial start of the summer tourism season. A marathon, Eckberg argues, would bring folks to town to help businesses get a jump on seasonal spending ahead of the town’s popular Lumberjack games held each year.
The mayor and some council members, however, have a different take on the idea. They argue the inconvenience imposed on residents along the closed race course coupled with the overtime pay required for city police officers would be a large burden for the city to bear. Sounds like a classic example of a runner trying to convince a non-runner that running for fun makes sense 😉
This is certainly a debate that is being played out in municipalities all over the country as tight local government budgets and the needs of struggling business owners conflict. Although I’ve never organized a race myself, I imagine most organizers pay off duty police officers to assist with course closures using funds raised through race entry fees. Of course race entry fees may be lower in a bad economy than in a good one as runners cut down on the number of races they participate in to save money. Either way, it seems like the cost argument doesn’t hold much water.
One thing that is tough to argue is that marathons are generally good for local economies. Runners often travel from out of town and eat meals, stay in hotels, and purchase gas from local businesses. The best run marathons with support from local governments are the most well attended and therefore provide the greatest positive economic impact. Just look at the Richmond marathon – it’s held in an average size city with really nothing special about the race course itself – but it’s routinely one of the most well attended in the country (this year’s race broke all previous records with 14,000 runners!).
If the mayor of Stillwater is looking for input I say take a risk – host the marathon and see what happens. Who knows – maybe in a few years Stillwater will have thousands of runners who come out for the best supported, friendliest marathon in the state of Minnesota!