By SALINA POST
The inaugural Salina Crossroads Marathon finished strong with more than 800 participants from 30 states and bringing an estimated economic impact of $446,296.
That's the word from the organizers of the Nov. 5 event that included a marathon, half marathon, 4.01K Family Fun Run, Half Marathon Relay, and Marathon Relay. The economic impact estimate was done by Visit Salina, a division of the Salina Area Chamber of Commerce.
“It has been amazing to see the posts on Facebook from runners across the United States on how much they enjoyed the event and how appreciative they were of our amazing volunteers and the tremendous support from community members who came out to cheer them on," said Daniel Craig, co-race director. "A group from Texas did a YouTube series ‘Driving from Texas to Kansas for the Salina Crossroads Marathon’ and have offered to let us use it to help promote future Salina Crossroads Marathon events.”
The marathon portion of the event was the first USATF Certified and Boston Marathon Qualifier event ever held in Salina.
“For a first year marathon to have a turn out as large as the Salina Crossroads Marathon is amazing! This shows that the organization of the event was well thought out and executed. Praise to Chris Lehecka and Daniel Craig, co-directors of the marathon, for their excellent work!" said Tiffany Benien, sports and events manager for Visit Salina. "From the Visit Salina perspective, the reach of the event with runners coming from across the United States is exactly the type of exposure that Salina wants. We were excited to be able to survey participants, and the results about their experience in Salina was overwhelmingly positive."
The organizers were quick to point out that the success of the event also depended on the more than 100 volunteers and more than 30 sponsors.
“The Salina Crossroads Marathon featured an electric guitar version of the National Anthem by Howard Mahan, a fast and scenic course, music stations throughout the course, custom designed medals by Vortex, and great post-race food and photo ops,” Craig said. “Chris Lehecka, a co-race director, did an amazing job of leading the efforts to get sponsors for the race."
Because of the generosity of the sponsors, 100 percent of the entry fees from the event will go to support youth sports in Saline County. According to information from the organizers, the Salina Crossroads Marathon will provide $25,340 to the following four youth sports organizations in the county.
Salina Family YMCA
Kansas Youth Sports
USD 305 School Marathon
Salina Area Youth Sportsmanship Initiative