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21,000 runners get ready to rock 'n' roll in St. Louis

A map of the marathon and 1/2 marathon courses
(Map courtesy Competitor Group, Inc.)
A map of the marathon and 1/2 marathon courses

More than 21,000 runners and walkers will wind their way through St. Louis city streets this Sunday as part of the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon and half-marathon.

The race is unique because it will feature 26 live bands and 18 local cheerleading squads performing along the course. The band Sugar Ray will headline a concert at the finish line. Margie Martin, the event’s manager, says they were surprised by how many people signed up to participate in this, the first Rock-n-Roll Marathon here. 

"We anticipated actually that we would probably have closer to 14 or 15,000 runners and we had a fantastic response so we just grew it as much as we could. In the inaugural year we wanted to hold it a little bit so just to make sure that we had a perfect run and the course was perfect and we didn’t crowd the streets too much," Martin said.

The marathon is sponsored by Solutia and is expected to raise $1.2 million for TASK, Team Activities for Special Kids.

It begins at 7:30 a.m. Sunday on Market Street downtown. For a video tour of the course, click here.