Windsor partners with Detroit Free Press Marathon

Marathon preparations What you need to know if you plan to run, cheer or cross the border for the Detroit Free Press Marathon. Bob Bellacicco explains.

Detroit Free Press Marathon race director Aaron Velthoven is pumped for Sunday’s event, “We're sold out for the first time in our history.”

Well over 20,000 runners will participate in the 47th annual marathon and half marathon. Every state in America and over 40 countries will be represented. Close to 1,000 runners signed up are from Windsor-Essex.

“Windsor always comes out and it's a great experience and energy there along the course so we're excited,” said Velthoven, who knows many truly enjoy the atmosphere created in Windsor. “I think there definitely something extra that people love to experience when they're racing in Windsor.”

Runners will give the local economy a boost with people having already looked into birding, cycling, trails, and the downtown, according to Jason Toner, Tourism Windsor Essex County Pelee Island director of marketing.

“Detroit has a lot of hotel rooms, but not enough,” Toner pointed out. “So we get people coming over here and the tunnel bus run special service early in the morning to get them over for that 6 a.m. line up and then they can hop back over on the tunnel bus after and appreciate downtown.

The City of Windsor has partnered with the marathon for the first time.

“You want to magnify the magnificent and that's something we want to do at the Detroit Free Press marathon,” said Coun. Renaldo Agostino.

The excitement level is usually pretty high on Riverside Drive on race day and this partnership between the City of Windsor and the Detroit Free Press Marathon is going to amp that up to another level.

There is going to be three cheer zones set up along the route. One of them at the Art Gallery/Chimczuk Museum. Another one down the road at The Keg, and a third one at the Windsor-Detroit Tunnel. All three will feature the North Star cheer team.

The Multicultural Council (MCC) will provide visitors with a taste of Windsor.

“With the MCC going out and having all the different countries represented, I think it's really going to give a nice showcase to what Windsor-Essex is for people that may have never been here before,” Toner said.

It's a partnership the city and marathon official would like to grow.

“We plan to continue to grow that partnership, continue to find more ways to put more activities in Windsor,” said Velthoven. “This is a great first step. We're really looking at how can we bring more people down into Windsor during race weekend, how can we get more activities there. How can we really help them? For Canadian residents that want to stay in Windsor and travel to our expo and then travel to our start line on Sunday. How do we make that easier and more available for them?”

Agostino would like the partnership to grow as well, “When you look at the Windsor Works report, that really outlines that more and more partnerships with the city of Detroit is an important thing.”

Residents are asked to note the tunnel will be closed Sunday morning to accommodate the event.

“For those folks that want to take the tunnel bus over, you can grab that starting at 5:30 [a.m.] till 6:30 [a.m.],” said Tal Czudner, CEO of the Windsor-Detroit Tunnel Corporation. “Then we close from 6:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. and then we open back up. Normally it's the slowest time of the week, so it's really the best time for us to close for a couple of hours.”