Over 6,000 cross the line

A rush of last-minute entries in the kids' race pushed last weekend's Fargo Marathon to more than 6,000 finishers.

The large numbers could lead to larger donations to the event's beneficiaries and have already led to high praise from runners on a national level.

The Fargo Marathon youth run ended with 1,750 entrants. About 1,000 preregistered. It was the only race that allowed same-day registrations.

"I salute those parents who put their kids into this event," said Mark Knutson, Fargo Marathon executive director.

Knutson said 977 finished the marathon, 1,658 the half marathon, 504 the marathon relay and 1,194 the 5K run. The total was 6,083.

It smashed the 2005 tally of 2,414 finishers.

"I would have liked to have the full and half numbers higher but, as I said after last year, controlled growth is the best," Knutson said.

Higher participation numbers could benefit The Children's Museum at Yunker Farm and MeritCare Children's Hospital. Each received $10,000 last year, and Knutson said he expects each to get at least that this year.

The marathon committee won't have the final figures until mid-June, Knutson said.

"We had a lot of new expenses this year, which were necessary to keep the event growing," he said. "The other piece of this puzzle is that we do not make any money on the youth race, which is fine. It is strictly meant to help promote an active lifestyle for the kids."

Reports from marathonguide.com, a national marathon Web site, indicate the Fargo event is earning a positive national reputation.

"You will be amazed by this new race, it will mushroom in popularity as soon as the word gets out. The folks in Fargo have put on THE friendliest race in the nation," wrote one runner from Arizona.

Said another from South Carolina: "As a person trying to run a marathon in every state, I was very excited to add Fargo, N.D., to my stash of medals. This marathon is affordable, the people are outstanding and I met a lot of 50-staters along the way."

Another from Missouri: "This was my second marathon - the first NYC last fall. Although I enjoyed NYC tremendously, this was a better running experience and much better time for myself! I was amazed how smoothly packet pickup and race day lineup was handled."

There was one hiccup - the omission of about 150 runners from the official results because of an error by the timing company.

"I felt miserable about the glitch with the timing company, but when I see a comment that ranks us as a top 10 marathon, it makes life much better," Knutson said.

Readers can reach Forum reporter Jeff Kolpack at (701) 241-5546