SAN ANTONIO – In November, San Antonio runners learned that the 2024 Rock ‘n’ Roll Running Series would be the last in the Alamo City.
However, the city and San Antonio Sports also announced its replacement: the San Antonio Marathon.
This running weekend is already scheduled for Dec. 5-7, 2025.
Stephanie Serna talked with Sara Tovar from San Antonio Sports about the Alamo City hosting its own marathon, and how the organization is expecting about 20,000 runners on a potentially fast and flat course currently being planned. The Q&A has been edited for clarity and brevity.
KSAT’S STEPHANIE SERNA: A lot of runners are excited about this big event. And speaking of that, how prepared are we to handle a large number of runners, similar to the scale of the Rock ‘n’ Roll marathon in San Antonio?
SARA TOVAR: We are ready and prepared for the magnitude of runners. We’ve provided operation support and volunteer support for Rock ‘n’ Roll for many years. So, we’re very familiar with that. And we’ve hired a national partner to come on with lots of experience managing previous Rock ‘n’ Roll marathons.
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SERNA: I saw that the registration was for A 5K, half-marathon and full-marathon. What happened to the 10K?
TOVAR: So we don’t have a 10K yet. That could change, but we hear the feedback coming in from the community. The 10K is a very popular option, but we wanted to kind of take it slow in our inaugural year and make sure that we are expanding appropriately.
SERNA: And, the 5K is on Friday now?
TOVAR: Friday night under the holiday lights downtown! It’ll be a really cool experience to have a holiday feel. We’re really excited to bring people not just locally, but outside of San Antonio to experience the River Walk during the holidays.
SERNA: Since this is the inaugural year for the San Antonio Marathon, will it be certified as a Boston Qualifier?
TOVAR: It will. It will be a Boston Qualifier. So, we’re very excited. We’re working on our courses currently and we’ll be ready to announce those (courses) in early 2025.
SERNA: San Antonio is Military City USA. And, you know, we’ve had portions of the Rock ‘n’ Roll that honored our military. Will the San Antonio Marathon do the same?
TOVAR: Absolutely. That’s very important to us, as well as still maintaining that relationship and that Military City USA title... so incorporating that into the marathon will be the same as in previous years.
SERNA: Is it too early to ask about any title sponsors or if some famous runners will make an appearance?
TOVAR: Meb (Keflezighi) is one of our spokespersons for the marathon, so he will be joining us for the race, but the title sponsor is a little too soon. We’re working on it. Hopefully, we have some big announcements in 2025.
WATCH KEFLEZIGHI’S INTERVIEW WITH KSAT BELOW:
SERNA: What was the reasoning behind moving away from something (Rock ‘n’ Roll) that had been pretty successful for about 16 years?
TOVAR: We just felt like it was our opportunity. The contract for Rock ‘n’ Roll had expired and we were ready to take on the challenge. We’re ready to keep it local to San Antonio Sports. We’re a local nonprofit and we do big events for a living and we’re ready to take on the challenge and keep that money local as well.
SERNA: What are the hopes or what are you planning to hopefully do better than Rock ‘n’ Roll?
TOVAR: Rock ‘n’ Roll was a great organization and they put on a great race for many years. But, we’d like to enhance that and really key into the community aspect. We want to tell the story of San Antonio. And, so that’s the motto of our marathon, every step tells a story and we want every runner to see that as they go along through the course. So, we will have themed miles where participants will be able to immerse themselves in the culture of San Antonio.
For more information on the San Antonio Marathon, click here.
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