Rock ‘n’ Roll Mardi Gras Marathon | |
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Date | Late February |
Location | New Orleans, Louisiana U.S.A. |
Event type | Road |
Distance | Marathon and half marathon |
Established | 1965 |
Official site | Rock 'n' Roll New Orleans Marathon |
The Rock ‘n’ Roll Mardi Gras Marathon is an annual international marathon race which takes place in New Orleans, Louisiana, in the United States. It is part of the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Series of road running competitions and it also features the Rock ‘n’ Roll Mardi Gras Half Marathon.
The event, held since 1965 (but not in 1968), was taken over by Competitor Group for the 2010 edition and adopted the Rock 'n' Roll Series name after its takeover. For the first edition, the marathon was run as an open class or mass race while the half marathon formed the elite section of the event. The elite competition started strongly, with Martin Lel beating Samuel Wanjiru in the men's section while Berhane Adere and Kim Smith ran the fastest and third-fastest times ever on American soil, for first and second place respectively. A total of around 13,000 runners participated in the day's events. Kim Smith returned in 2011 to set a 19-second personal best of 1:07:36, a new U.S. all-comer's record for the women's half marathon.
Key: Course record
NOTE: 45th refers to the 45th Mardi Gras Marathon overall; Competitor Group began organising the race in 2010.