Justin Schmidt/KCTVKANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) -
It's 26.2 miles – that's how far thousands of runners in Kansas City will travel Saturday at the KC Marathon.
Thousands also waited at the finish line at Crown Center for the 5K, half marathon and marathon runners to finish up. If they weren't running, fans also packed the area to cheer the runners to the finish.
Saturday just after 7 a.m. more than 11,000 runners hit the street before the sun came up. This is the largest year yet for the Kansas City Marathon in terms of participants. New this year is the finish line festival where there is food and music for all the runners and fans through Saturday afternoon.
The president of the Kansas City Sports Commission spoke about what the race means to the city.
"I had tears when people started this morning and next to me was the mayor of Kansas City, Sly James and on the other side was Jim Heeter, the president of the chamber of commerce. The three of us went ‘how incredible is this? We have 47 states represented, two other countries outside the United States here.' And you just go ‘wow, look at the impact we are having on our city,'" Kathy Nelson said.
One thing to keep in mind as people are making their way out and about Saturday morning - there are several road closures between Downtown and the Plaza through about 1 p.m. as runners finish up.
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