2008 Colorado Colfax Marathon Charts New Course Through Lakewood

• Lakewood Traffic Impacts for Race Day
• Register for Race, Get More Info at Marathon Website

The Post-News Colorado Colfax Marathon will again run through the heart of Lakewood as thousands of runners and wheelchair racers compete in the third annual event. It takes off early Sunday morning, May 18. Runners will race through the streets of Aurora, Denver and Lakewood in a competition that is strongly supported by the mayors of all three cities.

This year will unveil a new race course that begins and ends at City Park in Denver with marathoners and relay teams hitting the halfway mark at Quail Street in Lakewood. The Colorado Colfax Marathon includes a full marathon of 26.2 miles, a half marathon of 13.1 miles, and a 5-person team relay with individual legs of 10K, 5K, 10K, 5K, and 12K. Once again, the marathon is the proud host of the 2008 National Wheelchair Marathon Championships. All running races will begin at 6 a.m. The wheelchair championship will start at 5:55 a.m.

Racers will find some changes in this year's competition. Based on runner feedback and with expert help from a runners' advisory group, organizers redesigned the race courses to make them more runner-friendly. This year will feature two separate courses, with a single start/finish for both the marathon and half-marathon at Denver's City Park. Racers in the full marathon and the relay teams will race down Colfax to Lakewood and turn at Quail Street. They will then head south to Parfet and down to 8th before heading back up Quail to Collins and west to Simms to return to Colfax. They will reach the halfway point in Lakewood as they re-cross Quail Street on their way down Colfax back to Denver.

Half marathon runners will go in the opposite direction upon leaving Denver City Park, heading east along Colfax toward Aurora. The turnaround point for the half marathon will be west of the parking lot entrance for the Anschutz Inpatient Pavilion. The runners will then head north to 17th and back to Denver.

The new course means there will be no hard hills at the end and more shade for participants along the way. As always, the course will feature great neighborhood diversity, but there is no net elevation gain. The course is a USATF certified and sanctioned course and serves as a qualifier for the Boston Marathon.

The purpose of the marathon is to change how people think of Colfax Avenue and to help restore one of the longest, continuous commercial streets in the nation.

The City of Lakewood is committed to providing a safe race course for runners, access to Colfax businesses and access to residences and churches during the race. Because this year's event will take runners both directions on Colfax Avenue, it will result in the closure of West Colfax Avenue for east and westbound traffic from Sheridan Boulevard to Simms from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m.