The Air Force Marathon, half-marathon and 10-K races will take place early Saturday with some 8,500 runners and 1,500 volunteers descending on and around Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and Fairborn.
Sarah Anne Bowers, who will volunteer for her third Air Force Marathon Saturday, should know. In an interview with the Dayton Daily News, she recalled a runner who had signed up for the “Fly, Fight, Win” challenge last year — running three races on two days, the 5-K Friday evening, then the 10-K and the marathon (or half-marathon) the next morning.
Bowers set the scene: “I saw him cross the finish line at the 10-K. I told him, ‘You can do this. Go to the marathon, it’s already starting, you can get going.’”
But after a hot 10-K, the runner had had enough. “I don’t want to do it. I’m going to walk towards my car.”
“I’m like, ‘No, you signed up for this. Go do it,’” she told him.
Long story short: He ran — and finished — the marathon. Later, Bowers gave him a lift to his car on a golf cart.
“If it wasn’t for you encouraging me, I would have walked to my car and not done the marathon,” he later told Bowers.
Bowers, 34, an administrative office manager for Dayton Christian School, is a triathlete with a couple of marathons under her belt.
“I do all the crazy stuff,” she said.
She was drawn to learning more about the logistics of putting on a big race. With nearly 8,000 runners, backed by 1,500 volunteers, the Air Force Marathon qualifies.
Bowers volunteered after moving to Centerville three years ago.
“I’ve loved it,” she said. “It’s the logistical side of it. A lot of people think that you show up, it’s all ready, they have only been probably working on this for a week.”
On the contrary, Bowers said. Several marathon staff members shepherd the event full-time, all year. Welcoming thousands of runners is an detail-oriented enterprise that requires a painstaking marshalling of resources, and some 1,500 volunteers handling a dizzying array of tasks.
Bowers said the “nitty-gritty details” of putting on a big race are “mind-blowing.”
“It’s been such a great experience,” she said.
Without volunteers, the marathon would be a very different event.
“The more volunteers there are who love what they do, the easier it is to pull off an event like this,” Bowers said.
Bowers’ role changes each year. She takes two days off from work before the race and can find herself escorting distinguished visitors, organizing and helping distribute medals, tracking down finish line banners, staging road signs, helping runners back to their cars and dozens of other “go-to” tasks.
Race day itself is a 14-hour labor of love that begins in the pre-dawn darkness around 3:30 a.m. “I kind of consider the event a training day, being on my feet for 12-plus hours.”
How long will Bowers keep volunteering for the race?
“Indefinitely,” she said. “Until they don’t want me to come back anymore.”
The marathon’s goal each year is to improve on the things the race has historically done well, said Race Director Chris Meister.
“This year, one of our biggest changes is to the layout of our finish-line area,” he said. “We’ve adjusted the location of our festival tent to be closer to our finish line. While this improves our operational efficiency, it will also enhance the post-race atmosphere by bringing people closer together to celebrate their race day accomplishments.”
Each year, the marathon celebrates a different airplane as a “theme” for the race. This year, the race’s featured aircraft is the KC-135 Stratotanker.
“You will see this proudly featured on our shirts, medals, awards, and other materials throughout the race,” Meister said.
Race times
5-K: 6:30 p.m. Friday.
10-K: 6:30 a.m. Saturday.
Half-marathon and marathon: 7:30 a.m. Saturday.
Roads closed
There will be four barriers along Ohio 844, which is part of the race course.
From 6 a.m. to 3 p.m., there will be road closures along Kauffman Road between Wright State University and Wright-Patterson. You’ll find them at intersections with National Road, McClellan Drive, Van Dorn Lane, Shields Avenue and Zink Road.
How Wright-Patterson gates will be affected
The “commissary gate,” gate 1A, will be closed from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. That’s part of the marathon route.
Gate 12A will be open. But vehicles will only have access to Spruce Way via Redbud Lane. There will be no access via Estabrook Road or Sugar Maple Drive. This will maintain access to the National Air and Space Intelligence Center, the 88th Security Forces Squadron, Wright-Patterson Medical Center and Kittyhawk area.
On the base’s Area B, gate 19B off National Road will open at 3 a.m. for non-marathon traffic, and close at 3 p.m.
Gate 1B, off Springfield Street is part of the race route, so it will be closed.
And gate 22B, off Interstate 675, will be closed from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m.
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