Even before last year’s Rocket City Marathon had ended, race directors Dana and Dewayne Debardelaben already were thinking ahead to this weekend’s events.
Starting Saturday morning at 7 at the Von Braun Center (VBC), the weekend offers several races in two days. That includes the Sunday marathon, two half-marathons and a marathon team relay (2-5 runners). Added last year for Saturday was the 10K, 5K and Kids Marathon Mile.
All the events, along with the planning, logistics, last-minute fire drills and everything else, don’t always go smoothly. In December 2021, severe thunderstorms on race morning forced the cancelation of the event. Streets flooded to the point of being sloshable slogs instead of runnable. Lightning was terrible. In some parts of the city, power was out. Mother Nature isn’t always kind. Other years, it’s been bone-chilling cold with temperatures in the 30s and 40s. Eh, it’s cold. You run. And some years, like in 2022, it was chilly but just right for a good weekend of running. Races begin at the VBC, except for the Back Half Half-Marathon that starts at the University of Alabama-Huntsville.
“The biggest takeaway is there’s an incredible amount of planning and coordination to pull this off,” Dewayne told TVO. “It takes Dana and me working throughout the year, along with committee members and hundreds (thousands?) of volunteers, to pull it off.”
Marathon weekend and Cotton Row on Memorial Day are arguably the Huntsville Track Club’s two biggest weekends. Debardelaben said close to 3,000 runners, possibly more, have registered for this weekend’s marathon, half marathons, 10K and 5K. Runners from at least 45 states along with England and Russia have registered. The course route has no changes this year. The Huntsville Sports Commission is the primary sponsor.
The Rocket City Marathon offers runners a chance to see several notable sites on its route. Top spots include the First Baptist Church tile mural known as Egg Beater Jesus, Maple Hill Cemetery, the old train depot, Veteran’s Memorial, Campus 805 and Stovehouse, U.S. Space & Rocket Center, Botanical Garden, Lowe Mill Arts Center and Big Spring Park. Runners end at the finish line inside the South Hall of the Von Braun Center.
What Does it Take?
The big question, of course, is what does it take to put on a marathon and the other races this weekend? The answer is akin to the old joke about how to eat an elephant: one bite at a time. Planning an event involving thousands of people over 3-4 days (counting registration pickup and the expo at the VBC), law enforcement and first responders, volunteers and more, is massive.
“Dana had prior race directing experience, having put on a number of kid’s triathlons over the years,” Dewayne said. “The scope of the Rocket City Marathon is much larger, but the principles remain the same. I, on the other hand, learned on the fly that first year, and we’ve grown immensely in terms of experience and what does/does not work.”
The first thing they do is consider a theme, which can drive potential changes to the website, medal decisions, shirt decisions, and messaging in general. This weekend’s theme is related to traveling through Huntsville. The medals look like pages from a passport. After the theme is determined, a first-cut budget is estimated for the overall cost. That includes everything from shirts and medals to large rentals such as the VBC, equipment, portable toilets, photographers, timers and announcers. This is a “guesstimate,” Dewayne said, and will flex depending on myriad factors.
“With a budget in mind, we usually open registration early (in January) with deep discounts available,” he said. “This allows us to gauge early interest. We then brainstorm potential medal ideas, although we might already have a good idea based on theme, and coordinate with the company who manufactures the medals to get estimates of cost, submission deadlines, and delivery dates. We’ll typically get a prototype medal to examine in case we need to make minor changes (which we did this year).
“At this point, January to early February, Dana and I typically will start an expo tour of visiting other races. This includes setting up a booth at their expos to promote the Rocket City Marathon. Visibility is the key. We’ve encountered hundreds of people who decided to come because we met them at another race.
“While the expo tour is going on (2-3 months), we’re also looking at the course to see if any changes need to be made. This is usually driven by external factors such as construction or road work. The police are absolutely fantastic at keeping us informed and helping us work through issues. If something needs to be changed, we’ll have to plan a new (or modified) route and go through the certification process to guarantee our course is accurate. This is tedious and involves several people (and a police escort) spending the better part of a day riding the course on bikes to get accurate measurements.”
Rocket City Marathon Weekend Draws Near
Certification of a race route, whether a marathon or even a 5K, is significant. Most runners want an accurate measurement. The accuracy, and promotion of such, can attract top runners, which may attract other top runners. Also, name value can attract others who want to run the same route, similar to how weekend golfers enjoy playing a course where PGA Tour pros have a tournament.
During summer, with the countdown clock ticking, the Debardelabens will start meeting with Rocket City Marathon committee leaders. More meetings are held closer to race weekend. Regular contact is made with other entities including Huntsville Police Department, Huntsville Parks & Recreation, the VBC, Space & Rocket Center, the botanical garden, UAH and others. This keeps everyone updated.
“During this first half of the year, we’re also selecting shirts and finisher gifts for the marathon and half-marathons,” Dewayne said. “When it was a marathon-only event, this was considerably easier. But we now have five different races over the weekend (six if you count the relay), and a different color shirt for each event. A surprising chunk of the budget goes toward medals, shirts and finisher gifts. This is also one reason we don’t offer refunds or deferrals — the money has already been spent on these items.”
Medals, shirts and other gifts are shipped to the Debardelabens’ home so they can inspect and check everything. Lists are made and rechecked. One year, the marathon shirts arrived just two weeks before the race and had mistakes. A scramble was made — “nightmarish for a few days,” Dewayne said — with a local supplier to get shirts before race day.
“The final week or two before the race is incredibly full as we try to massage everything into place,” Dewayne said.
And, already, here and there this week, the Debardelabens probably already are getting ideas for 2024.
MAIN PHOTO: Mary Alex Gary wins the 2022 Rocket City Marathon women’s title, after a 5-year layoff from competitive running. (Photo by Alan Clemons/TVO)
