By Renee Larr
The Carmel Road Racing Group is making final preparations to host the Indy Women’s Half Marathon, the largest women-only race at that length in the state.
Runners from across the world will descend to Indianapolis on Sept. 19 for the annual race, which has grown by 40 percent since CRRG bought it from another race promoter last year.
“Everything was kind of already in place with the old race promoter, I just executed his plan,” said Todd Oliver, race director and CRRG president. “So 2015 was really our first year we could make it our own and put our own little spin on it.”
Women from around the world in all different walks of life will participate.
“We have people registered from 22 states and six countries,” Oliver said. “In our elite field we have the returning champion coming back. She’s from Kenya. We have two Russians and two women from Mexico coming in to run.”
Todd said organizing a women-only event is “substantially different” than managing a regular race, and that more women than men prefer to run in packs. He said that notable groups planning to run together include 100 women from Ely Lilly and 50 women traveling from Louisville.
“They’re celebrating one woman who is a cancer survivor and one who has a birthday, so they’re making it a girls weekend,” Oliver said.
The race will take place downtown beginning at 7:30 a.m. on Ohio St. For more information or to register for the half marathon or 5K, visit indywomenshalfmarathon.com.
