Olympic hopefuls to gather in Orlando for history-making marathon
By Michelle Imperato
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ORLANDO, Florida (WESH) — In just a few weeks, history will be made right here in Orlando. It’s the first time the Olympic Marathon Trials will be held in the state of Florida.
The best long-distance runners in the country will leave it all on the line right here in the City Beautiful as they race for a spot on Team USA on Feb. 3.
Track Shack, the Greater Orlando Sports Commission and the city have been working on this plan for years.
“It’s just been a huge amount of work both logistically getting everything set and particularly for security, as you can imagine, but also the technical side of it, because the timing has to be 100% accurate,” Jon Hughes said.
Hughes, co-owner of Track Shack, says the 378 Olympic hopefuls will run a 26.2-mile marathon course that was meticulously designed because every step and every second counts.
“It needs to be something that is wide enough to hold everybody. In downtown Orlando, we have some brick, they wanted to be sure there was no brick. Well, that was not easy, Hughes said.
Avoiding sun in the Sunshine State was also not easy. Organizers brought in an expert technical director and an engineer to map out the best route and logistics of each runner’s individual hydrating station.
More than 560 volunteers are trained to man the fueling tables so the runners never miss a beat.
After countless design iterations, a winner emerged.
The runners start downtown on Magnolia Avenue, do a 2.2-mile loop, then come back down Orange Avenue to Rosalind Avenue. When they turn onto Washington Street, they’ll start their three, 8-mile loops touring iconic landmarks like city hall, the Dr. Phillips Center, Lake Lucerne and the Milk District. Finally, they’ll end right in front of Lake Eola.
Some of the top runners in the world already took a test run in December and gave it rave reviews.
“It was flat, it was fast. I appreciated kind of the loop aspect of it and I enjoyed the scenery of it,” Kiera D’Amato said.
Believe it or not, the course is not all about the athletes. The course designers also kept the spectators in mind.
“There will be spectator viewing both here right at Lake Eola over by the finish area, but a lot of great viewing over at the Dr. Phillips Performing Arts Center, even over by Festival Park. And again, you’re going to see them go by three times,” Hughes said.
Spectators will definitely be able to get a glimpse of their favorite runner, but be prepared to snag your spot two hours early and stay put.
Roads around the course will be closed starting at 5 a.m. Exits on the east and westbound side of SR-408 will close, including Orange Avenue, Mills, Bumby, Crystal Lake, Rosalind, Anderson and South Street.
The men start at 10:10 a.m. and the women start at 10:20 a.m.
As many as 100,000 people from all over the world are expected to line the streets to watch the runners take their first steps towards gold.
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