| Date: | October 18, 2020 |
| Location: | Western Michigan, ending in Grand Rapids |
| Type: | Road |
| Distance: | Marathon |
| Est: | 2004 |
The Metro Health/Grand Rapids Marathon is a 26.219miles race run every October in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA since 2004. It is a USATF certified course.[1] The Grand Rapids Marathon picked up Metro Health as a title sponsor in 2008. The full marathon gives runners a tour of downtown Grand Rapids and then heads out of the city and into the trails of Millennium Park. It is considered a flat, fast course and is a qualifying opportunity for the Boston Marathon.
The race director is Don Kern.[2]
The marathon utilizes "celebrity" pace teams, based on the times of famous people who had run marathons. The current pace teams include Oprah Winfrey (4:29), P. Diddy (4:14), Will Ferrell (3:56), George W. Bush (3:44), William Baldwin (3:24), and Pi (3:14).
Apart from the main event, there is also a kids marathon, 5K, 10K, half-marathon, marathon relay and fitness expo.
The course record of 2:26.41 was set by David Mart (Zeeland, Michigan) in 2013.[3]
The 2017 overall winner was Mike Camilleri (Howell, Michigan) with a time of 2:34:40. The 2017 female winner was Sara Sandborn (Sunfield, Michigan), who achieved a time of 2:58:03. Also in 2017, Tod Buckingham (Okemos, Michigan) won the half-marathon with a time of 1:13:29, and Lauren MacVicar (Kalamazoo, Michigan) was the female winner with 1:25:51.[3]