Shiprock Marathon has some new twist in annual event

SHIPROCK

In an effort to mix things up, officials have made some changes for the 34th annual Shiprock Marathon.

The marathon was moved to the second weekend in May instead of the first and the finish line for the event returns to Diné College south campus, just to name few.

The race is scheduled for May 13, but kick-off events behind May 12, including the final day of registration.

Shiprock Marathon Race Director Tom Riggenbach said the changes were made due to various reasons and that it ultimately came down to officials wanting to try something new.

He said the change in date for the marathon however had a more specific reason.

“Diné College really is just such a good venture and they really wanted to host it again, so we’re back at the college,” he said. “We wanted to try and make the race where there’s as many runners as possible. The goal was to move it to the second week so that some of the high school track and field athletes and their families would be able to take part in the events, so we’ll see what kind of feedback we get.”

Officials were unable to avoid an overlap with the New Mexico high school state track and field championships that were split into two weekends: May 4-5 and May 12-13. And the events previous took place at the Shiprock Youth Complex.

Mimicking previous years, the marathon events kick off Friday, May 12, before the actual marathon. The health and fitness expo will start things off at Diné College north campus in Shiprock and will run from 12-6 p.m. The north campus will also be the packet pick up station, which is open from 12-8 p.m., the pasta dinner for participants is from 4-7 p.m., the kids marathon beginning at 5 p.m. and the 5/10K runs starting at 6 p.m.

Riggenbach said the pasta dinner is one of the bigger events as 800 runners were served last year.

“It should be really nice,” he said. “We’ll also have some entertainment by Talibah Begay and the Martin sisters.”

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