Running: Atlantic City Marathon a boon to local economy

In 2008, the Atlantic City Marathon celebrated its 50th anniversary. It had been the third-longest continually run marathon in the United States and a fixture on the Jersey Shore race scene. But in 2009, that continuity was threatened when organizers announced they would no longer put on the race.

While runners scrambled to find alternative events so that their training wouldn't be wasted, the Milton and Betty Katz JCC in Margate met with the volunteer group that had been putting on the race and asked if there was any way the JCC could help. A marathon still went on that year, though a month later than the usual October date.

The JCC ended up taking over the event, which then had four races in one day with about 800 runners among them, and turned the event into a running festival that this year is expected to bring about 3,600 runners to Atlantic City. The races are being held this weekend.

It has become a popular race for local runners - I've been a spectator at the marathon and know a lot of friends who have chosen this as their 2014 goal race - but it's also a tourism boon for a struggling casino town.

"It brings in a different demographic to the city," said race director Genia Bittner. While no economic impact numbers are available for the race weekend, she said that all 500 rooms that the marathon series blocks out for runners have been sold, and she estimates that another 500 are booked through hotel booking sites and directly through casinos. Fifty percent of runners come from outside the Atlantic City region.

"They're choosing this race, but it also means they're choosing this city as a destination where they're going to spend their money for the weekend," she said.

Runners will see a lot of the island, too. The marathon course goes through Atlantic City, Ventnor, Margate, and Longport. The races start and end on the Boardwalk, but marathon runners will also see the city's other sites, too, like the marina district and Gardner's Basin.

"They're not just driving into a parking garage and going into a casino or maybe getting onto the Boardwalk and the beach. They're seeing a tremendous amount of the island," Bittner said.

The series is still four races, as it was before the JCC took over, but those races are now spread over two days, with a 5K and 10K on Saturday, and a half marathon and marathon on Sunday. This year, organizers added the King Neptune Challenge, in which runners will do one race Saturday and one Sunday. As of press time, about 300 people were signed up for the challenge.

If you missed this weekend's events and still want to run in Atlantic City, organizers run a spring race series, too. In 2011, they put on a 7K and 11K on the first Sunday in April, and named them the April Fool's races.

"They're fun distances that nobody else really offers," Bittner said. Those events were so popular that, in 2012, they then added a half marathon called the April Fool's Half Marathon, which this year had 1,457 finishers. (The 7K had 318 finishers; the 11K had 436.)