SPRINGDALE, Ark. — The 2021 Hogeye Marathon will be this Saturday (April 24) in downtown Springdale. This will be the 45th year for the Hogeye and is the 5th year the race will be held in downtown Springdale.
With the 2020 race being moved to virtual because of the coronavirus pandemic, organizers say they are very excited to have the in-person event this year.
“For the most part, the response has been fantastic. We do have more local runners this year, more runners from Benton County coming and so that’s exciting. We have made some changes to help mitigate some of the possible risks from COVID spread,” organizer Tabby Holmes said.
They are expecting around 900 runners in the marathon, half marathon and relay races. To help with social distancing they are starting runners in waves every two minutes.
“The marathon will start at 6:30 and that is a change, it normally starts at 7 with everything else. So, it will start at 6:30 and we’ll start every two minutes and then the half marathon will start at 7.”
They are asking runners to wear masks in the corrals at the start and to wear it for the first block or so until they are able to spread out.
This year the 5k is going to be on Sunday (April 25) instead of Saturday and they have also added a 10k.
You can still register for all the races at Shiloh Square in downtown Springdale Thursday from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. and again Friday (April 23) from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
These are also the times for packet pickup. There will be no packet pickup on Saturday or Sunday.
They are still looking for volunteers to help on race day.
There may also be some road closures, so pay attention to signs on roads. Emma Avenue in downtown Springdale will be closed for most of the day on Saturday.
Channel 5 is a proud sponsor of the Hogeye Marathon.