Top Myrtle Beach marathon finishers mull 2016 date change

Some of the Myrtlebeach.com Myrtle Beach Marathon’s top finishers Saturday are concerned about next year’s date change to the start of March, mostly because of competing marathons.

For more than a decade, the half marathon and marathon has been run in mid-February on Presidents Day weekend. Next year, it will move to the first Saturday in March because of an already busy weekend on the Grand Strand, organizers have said.

The Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce has also publicly backed the move.

But some runners fear the move will creep too closely to the Boston Marathon, which is typically the third Monday in April.

The February race dates were initially beneficial to the marathon because it was among the final races before the cutoff for qualifying for the Boston Marathon. But Boston’s race now sells out well before the Myrtle Beach Marathon takes place, so runners qualifying here have to wait until the next year’s Boston Marathon.

In 2016, the HTC Runner’s Expo will be at the large Myrtle Beach Sports Center behind the Myrtle Beach Convention Center allowed marathon organizers to move the dates. The center has a planned March 7 opening and will now be able to host the HTC Runner’s Expo on the Thursday and Friday of race week. The convention center has been booked in early March so organizers haven’t had a logical venue to host the expo.

Jason Lewis, who was among the top finishers in Saturday’s marathon, said he comes down with a group of runners from Jonesborough, Tenn.

“Boston is in April, so it will be kind of close,” Lewis said. “This could potentially impact me if I really want to do well in Boston.”

Allison Pastorek, female winner of the marathon comes to the marathon with Lewis’ group.

“I’ve always liked it on this weekend because I teach school and I’m off, so this is a nice trip for me,” Pastorek said. “Moving it might affect people wanting to run Boston.”

Tom Clifford, of Wilmington, N.C., said he has liked the placement of the marathon on Valentine’s weekend, and fears there are a lot of other great races in March in North Carolina. He said runners use the Myrtle Beach marathon as a prep race for those.

“My opinion is I think this race is placed perfectly,” the Dasani Half Marathon winner said. “I don’t think they should do it... I always thought that Myrtle Beach kind of stood alone in February. It’s a great time of year and it’s good weather. We always bring a big group down here in February.”

Clifford said it is hard to tell if more runners will feel the same way as he does.

“I don’t know what they change will do for them,” Clifford said. “I hope the change will work out better for them, if that’s what they think.”

Mike Mitchell, of Mint Hill, N.C., took second place in the half marathon and feels differently than other top runners. He said he doesn’t think his plans will change in 2016.

“It’ll make it easier with my wife not being on Valentine’s Day, so that’s one thing,” Mitchell said. “It is nice having the long weekend down here with Presidents Day. Weather is usually good this time of year, too.

“Hopefully the weather is still good in early March. It probably won’t affect me too much. We’d still probably look to come down here in early March. Two weeks won’t really make too much of a difference for me.”

This story was originally published February 17, 2015 at 3:02 PM with the headline "Top Myrtle Beach marathon finishers mull 2016 date change."