Palm Beach Marathon Wants To Race in Town of Palm Beach

The winter Palm Beaches Marathon event with upward 3,000 runners participating may finally be changing its course to a more scenic view this year.

The Town of Palm Beach has been tasked with deciding whether the Organizers of The FITTEAM Palm Beaches Marathon will be allowed to access the middle bridge which spans for about four miles. If granted, the race would cross onto the island at the Flagler Memorial Bridge, wind along Cocoanut Row, Whitehall Way and Lake Trail, and then cross back into West Palm Beach at the Royal Park Bridge.

The marathon was cancelled last year, when the event management and ownership changed, after being acquired by K2 Sports Ventures. According to Ken Kennerly, CEO of K2 Sports Ventures,”Palm Beach is one of the most iconic and desirable places in the world, and if we were fortunate to be approved to bring a small portion of my newly owned Palm Beaches Marathon to Palm Beach, the reputation of the race would raise significantly and develop a great philanthropic partnership with the Town. In addition, since many Palm Beach residents are runners, it would give them the opportunity to participate in a full and half Marathon in their own backyard which would be very appealing. Our goal with our proposed race course is to have truly minimal impact to the residents and the Town of Palm Beach and be on and off the island before 7:20am.”  “ Kennerly further stated to us, “Raising the bar of this race is my premier goal as Palm Beach and Palm Beach County deserve the very best. We employed the same strategy when I took over The Honda Classic, which has seen enormous growth and recognition as becoming one of the premier events on the PGA TOUR. The opportunity to run onto Palm Beach would be an enormous asset for the race. Not only do hundreds of Palm Beach residents run and therefore would enjoy running in a Marathon which touches ‘their’ home, bringing the race to Palm Beach at sunrise, with truly minimal impact to the residents and the island, would create one of the premier running experiences in the world.”

Palm Beach Marathon Wants To Race in Town of Palm Beach

The event is scheduled from December 1^st through 3^rd, and will include a 5k race and a half-marathon.

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The permit application indicates that event access to the island would last approximately 1.5 hours and would be in the estimated timeframe of 6:00AM and 7:30AM. A proposed water station would set up in the vicinity of Worth Avenue Clock Towers, with a request made for 10 parking spaces to be made available on the east end, for event volunteers. Mr. Kennerly offers his assurance, stating “The cones and any disposed trash will be picked up immediately after the last runner.”

Kennerly also mentioned the marathon will have a limited police presence at intersections, and has said that crowd control will be unnecessary for the event.