29,000 ready for Las Vegas marathon

The runners have spoken. They said they were cold.

The organizers have heard the call. They can't mandate better weather -- though it appears the running gods will provide just that on Sunday morning -- but they have adjusted the start time to help kill the chill.

The Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas Marathon, which debuted last year at 6 a.m. in a breezy predawn chill of 36 degrees, will start at 7 a.m. this time around, with the sun already up and temperatures well into the 40s. It should hit 50 degrees by 9 a.m. en route to a high of 64. And the wind should be barely noticeable.

"Obviously, last year the biggest challenge was making sure that we could effectively and entirely close the entire Strip," said Scott Dickey, president of Competitor Group, the San Diego-based company that oversees all the Rock 'n' Roll events and took over the Las Vegas race last year. "We got one under our belts, and that enabled us to move the start time back. The sun will be up, which will be great. It will be much, much better for the runners."

And there will be no shortage of those. Last year, the event drew 27,500 for the marathon and half-marathon. This year, registration is already hovering around 28,000, with Competitor shooting for 30,000 to toe the starting line near Mandalay Bay.

Race executive director Adam Zocks said the one complaint he heard most about last year's record-setting event was that it was too cold at the start. Runners are herded into corrals based on their expected finish time, and some can linger in those corrals for 45 minutes or more before actually crossing the start line. The sunshine will certainly help make for a more palatable wait.

"With the weather being warmer, people won't walk away saying it was too cold," Zocks said. "Last year, a lot of runners came here thinking it's Las Vegas, and they expected warm and came away disappointed. If we give them a little more time, it gives the runners time to warm up and gives them a better experience.

"I think we have a much better start-line setup. I'm pumped up about this year."

That setup has the start line in the northbound lanes of Las Vegas Boulevard, at the Dewey Street intersection. The corrals will back up south of the start line, then wind north at Russell Road -- so runners, as built-in spectators, waiting for their corral to release can watch as the race starts for the corrals ahead of them.

A bridge will span the entire Strip at the start line, with entertainment to get the runners further warmed up.

"The show at the start line is going to be incredible," Dickey said.

Added Zocks: "With the location of the start line and the corrals, we'll have more people around the start line than ever, being part of the energy."

Zocks said last year's success made city, county, Metro police and casino officials more amenable to a later start time, despite it keeping the Strip closed for a longer period.

"We got no push-back on that at all. The city, the county and Metro have all been tremendously supportive," Zocks said.

"They want to see this event become successful. Las Vegas has to have a great marathon, and they're doing a great job working with us to make that happen."

The course heads downtown for the first six miles, hits a few side streets, then moves to the southbound lanes of Las Vegas Boulevard on the way to the finish line at Mandalay Bay. Half-marathoners go straight to the finish, while marathoners head west on Hacienda and wind around southwest Las Vegas before returning to the Strip for the finish.

In putting the course together, Zocks was coming up literally a half-block short of having accurate distance for both the marathon and half-marathon. But with some cooperation from the El Cortez downtown, the problem was solved.

"I needed a half-block at the north end, and I found it at Fremont and Sixth. We're cutting through the El Cortez's driveway," he said. "We called them and said, 'Hey, can we do this?' And they said sure."

Last year's event was focused on Mandalay Bay, which not only had the start/finish line, but also the expo. This year, Dickey said his company is trying to share the wealth with more properties.

While Mandalay Bay's presence is still prevalent -- including Poison frontman and "Celebrity Apprentice" contestant Bret Michaels doing a post-race concert at the finish line -- the expo is at the Sands, the run-through wedding ceremony is at the Venetian, and the Wynn will host an after-party for the runners on Sunday night.

"We're kind of spreading it around," Dickey said. "We've really started to develop partnerships up and down the Strip, to spread out the economic impact."

Last year's event sold approximately 55,000 hotel nights; Dickey expects this year "should be well north of 60,000."

Yet Competitor Group is aiming even higher than that for 2011 and beyond.

"We think there's a massive opportunity to grow this race into one of the biggest in the world," Dickey said.

"Where we are today is right on track for where we expected to be ----there's no sophomore slump. We'll have a great Sunday.

"But next year, we'd like to get 35,000 runners, and ultimately we'd like to take it north of 40,000 and be bigger than the New York City Marathon."

Contact reporter Patrick Everson at peverson@review journal.com or 702-383-0353.