It’s apparently official: Devine Racing will be out of the Las Vegas Marathon after this Sunday’s run. From the LV Sun:
Devine will not manage the race after this year. A company that operates successful marathons across the country is taking over. San Diego-based Competitor Group Inc. thinks it can eventually draw as many as 30,000 runners to the course, with its starting line on the Strip.
The 2009 race will be renamed the Rock ’n’ Roll Las Vegas Marathon, joining a lineup of nine marathons the Competitor Group will hold next year across the country.
In those races, the company features unique courses — near the Alamo in San Antonio, through Music Row in Nashville and along the ocean in Virginia Beach — coupled with rock bands lining the roads and big concerts at the end.
Peter Englehart, chief executive officer of the Competitor Group, acknowledged the formula will need some tinkering in the next year for it to work in Las Vegas.
“We usually do a big headliner rock concert,” Englehart said. “But in Las Vegas there’s concerts every night.”
Not to mention the Cirque shows, the comedians, the magicians and the ever-present allure of the casinos.
Competitor Group’s record gives the Las Vegas running community good reason for hope.
It’ll be great to have some new leadership at the event. I’m going to be running in the race this year, and with all of the uncertainty about the event it seems almost anti-climactic. I’m sure it’ll be fun, but it sounds like it will be a bare-bones race this year.
I’ve got no doubts that a marathon can work in Las Vegas, but running a marathon has got to be the most anti-Vegas thing in the world. It’s not about decadence or instant gratification–quite the opposite, in fact.
In more good news, the rodeo is in town! Which means the scent of animal dung swirling around campus. Of course it also means lots of thrilling roping and riding and millions of dollars in consumer spending, but I’m just giving you my perspective.