Cowtown Marathon

The Cowtown Marathon is an annual marathon held every last weekend in February in Fort Worth, Texas. The two-day activities include two 5Ks, a 10K, the half marathon, marathon and ultra marathon. With 29,000 participants in 2014, the Cowtown is the largest multi-event in Texas.

The Cowtown Marathon was founded by the University of North Texas Health Science Center in 1978, with proceeds benefiting local charities and non-profit organizations. The Cowtown Children's Activities for Life & Fitness Program provides training, grants and running shoes to children in need. Current non-profits include the American Cancer Society, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and Team RWB which is a support organization for wounded veterans and their families. The program gave away 2,100 pairs of new running shoes to children in 2013.

The races start and end in Fort Worth's cultural district, run through the , go through downtown and circle TCU and Fort Worth's southside. Elevation changes can range up to 150 ft.

The Cowtown marathon and ultra marathon are Boston Marathon qualifying events. The Cowtown Cook Children's 5K race was named the top kids running event in the nation by USA Running, with 5,300 children registered to run in 2012.

In 2012 Scott Downard of Norman, Okla., finished first in the Cowtown marathon by outrunning his competitors by more than six minutes. However, Downard was disqualified because he was not registered and he was wearing another person's bib. Runner-up Kolin Styles became the winner. Styles' brother Koby won the ultra marathon.

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