Republished from December 2007 Looking at Lakewood
Colfax Marathon Races on New Course

The Colorado Colfax Marathon has reconfigured its course for its third annual race May 18, but the long-distance die-hards will still be running in Lakewood. See a map

Marathoners and the marathon relay teams will be racing west from City Park in Denver on Colfax Avenue to Simms Street to a turnaround point for a return trip down Colfax, around Sloan's Lake and back to City Park in Denver.

The Colorado Colfax Marathon is an annual event each May designed to highlight the storied and significant corridor that links Lakewood, Denver and Aurora. For the two previous years, runners started in Aurora and ran a 26-mile course on Colfax to finish in Lakewood at the Colorado Mills mall. Those running the half-marathon started in Denver's City Park and also finished in Lakewood. For 2008, the half-marathon runners will head east from City Park on Colfax to the Fitzsimons Medical Center in Aurora and loop back to the park on East 17th Avenue.

"The attention this race has brought to Colfax has helped our efforts to bring improvements to this historic corridor. People have begun changing how they think of Colfax, and we are excited to see this race continue to evolve into a world-class event," said Lakewood Mayor Bob Murphy.

The new runner-friendly course is based on feedback from the participants and with the help from a runners' advisory group. The course eliminates some painful hills on the previous course and provides more shade and neighborhood diversity.

The Colorado event remains a qualifying race for the Boston Marathon and host to the National Wheelchair Marathon Championship. It is a nonprofit event with net proceeds going to Colorado Kids, a charity dedicated to preventing obesity and promoting health and fitness in school-aged children.

To promote fitness during the holidays, the Colfax Marathon is offering the "friends-for-free" program, which gives any marathoner or half-marathoner who registers before Dec. 31 a coupon to register a friend for free.

For more information about the Colorado Colfax Marathon, visit www.coloradocolfaxmarathon.com or call 303-770-9600.