Rock 'n' Roll Marathon

The Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Series is a collection of road running events owned and operated by Competitor Group, Inc. The series is known for lining race routes with live bands, cheerleaders and themed water stations.

There are 31 events in the Rock 'n' Roll Series spanning 9 countries. In 2012, Competitor Group organized its first marathon outside North America when it acquired the organizing rights for the Madrid (Spain) Marathon.

In 2008, the Competitor Group took over Elite Racing, the company that had been organizing the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon. The following year, 2009, an internal audit revealed that the charity in whose name the race had been run, Elite Racing Foundation for Children, Education & Medical Research, had been improperly commingling funds with the for-profit Elite Racing. It further found that the foundation was being operated "in many instances for the benefit of the for-profit,” and that the charity's role in hosting the races had been overstated. As a result, the race had benefited improperly from hundreds of thousands of dollars in public subsidies and grants. In announcing the results of the audit, Competitor said it would return $190,500 to San Diego County and $152,544 to the city of San Diego, spend the remaining foundation funds on health and wellness causes, file amended tax returns, and dissolve the foundation. Competitor Group made the final payments in October 2009. Altogether the company returned $344,176 to the city and county.

In September 2014 Saint Louis University School of Law professor Yvette Joy Liebesman sued Competitor Group, alleging a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act in the handling of volunteers for the October 2012 race in St. Louis. The class-action lawsuit claims the company partners with charities to create a “a veneer for recruiting free labor” but the race events are for-profit and do not serve a charitable purpose under the law. The company asked the judge to dismiss the lawsuit, but this was denied, allowing the suit to go forward.

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