📸: Experience the 2023 Salina Crossroads Marathon

By OLIVIA BERGMEIER and NATE KING
Salina Post

The second Salina Crossroads Marathon, Half Marathon, Family Fun Run/Walk, and Team Relays are in the books and according to race organizers, it was a success.

The qualifier for the Boston Marathon had 3,370 entries for 2023, quadrupling last year's 817 runners. Co-race director Daniel Craig said this year's race has runners from all 50 states and some from Botswana, Colombia, Canada, and Mexico. 

Mother Nature cooperated with temperatures in the 50s for the start of the race. Numerous race participants told Salina Post they were pleased with the ideal running weather.

"Today I couldn't have asked for better weather," said Carlos Guajardo runner in the half-marathon. “The sun came out and it [the course] was fairly flat. There are a couple of challenging area there in the hills, but it's a great course with a lot of interaction with the crowd."

Not only did runners in the marathon benefit from access to a Boston Marathon Qualifier, but runners also gave back to the community with each entry.

"Both last year and this year, we're able to give 100% of the race entry fees to four of our local youth sports organizations," Craig said. "(We donate to) the Salina Family YMCA, Kansas Youth Sports, Salina Area Youth Sportsmanship initiative, and then the USD 305 School Marathon Foundation."

At 7:50 a.m. an acapella rendition of the National Anthem opened the festivities. At 8 a.m., the marathon, half marathon, and team relay runners were off.

"There are many races that you could have run so we are humbled that you chose to run at Salina Crossroads," The Salina Crossroads Marathon Leadership team shared on social media. "We couldn't put on a high caliber race like this without strong support from the City of Salina who understands the value that a high-quality marathon can bring to a community both in terms of economic impact as well as creating a sense of community pride."

According to Visit Salina, the event is estimated to bring $1.6 million to businesses in town.

Event organizers thanked Salina Area Chamber of Commerce and Salina Downtown, Inc. for their amazing support of the event. 

Leslie Bishop, executive Director for Downtown Salina Inc. told Salina Post that despite the challenges of getting downtown, business owners were happy with traffic in their stores.

Nate Guthals of Olathe took home first place in the men’s marathon, while Brittany White-Dold of Wichita won the women’s race. The half-marathon winner was Bryce Merriman of Wichita and Mandy Zimmerman of Junction City won the women’s half-marathon.

COMPLETE RACE RESULTS

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