CLEVELAND — As the Cleveland Marathon is gearing up for another year of races, organizers tell News 5 that numbers are still slowly on the rise since the pandemic.
The city is a few days away from the return of the Cleveland Marathon on May 21, where thousands of runners will take off from the corner of Saint Clair and 9th to begin a 26.2-mile-long journey.
For Downtown businesses like Agave & Rye, any event is beneficial for business.
"Anything from Guardians games, the upcoming season with the Browns, the Cavs games, and concerts. That's going to bring a lot of people just walking around Downtown," said Damon Heeter, the general manager of Agave & Rye.
That includes marathons, specifically the Cleveland Marathon.
"Most of the people that come with the runners, a lot of the spectators, they're definitely going to hit us up before, after and during. Then the runners are absolutely going to crush us because they got to carb up, they got to refill their own personal body fuel," said Heeter.
The run has been a tradition for the city since 1978. This year, the entire marathon course will be in Cleveland, with some good views on the route.
"We're going to go by some monuments like Progressive Field, the stadium, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame," said Jack Staph, the Cleveland Marathon executive race director.
Staph told News 5 that even with the changes since the pandemic, race participation has been different. This year they are seeing about 11,000 runners, which is thousands less than pre-Covid levels.
"We're not where we were in the past, but we're going to get there. Probably next year or the year after, we'll be back to the high at 20,000... 18,000 people," said Staph.
Staph said they have still seen a steady increase and believes many runners are still inside.
"During the pandemic, I think people stayed within their homes and did workouts there, and they got used to it. So, they haven't come back to running, and I think some people are so cautious of being in large groups," said Staph.
Businesses like Agave & Rye understand the lower participation and feel the slow comeback with customers.
"It's understandable; it's been a slow grind going into this post-Covid world; just like with ourselves, we had to rebrand, rebuild and get back to where we were," said Heeter.
But Staph, like Heeter, isn't worried because one thing he knows about this city is that Clevelanders love to run.
"It's a great thing for health, both mentally and physically, and it's also a collaboration of friendships," Staph said. "It brings the city to its feet. It has something to do with Cleveland."
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