Final preparations underway for the Mini Marathon

INDIANAPOLIS — It’s time for the 48th annual One America 500 Festival Mini Marathon, and Indianapolis is more than ready.

This year, there will be 20,000+ participants and the race is expected to bring more than 30,000 spectators to the Circle City.

“May is the best month of the year, and this is a good way to start the month,” said Nick Kowalkowski, one of the participants from Indianapolis.

“I am hearing from people who live here that this is the best race around,” said Lars and Stephanie Sorensen from Florida. “It’s good quality time with my daughter. It’s fun, we schedule [races] once or twice a year, and I think this one will become a regular [race].”

“It’s fun, the environment is awesome,” said Kayla Fisher, from Brazil, Indiana.

“The goal is to run an official half marathon in every state, so this will be state number 13. Lucky number 13,” said Kimberley Mendez, one of the participants from North Carolina.

“Just the atmosphere and being able to run on the track is pretty special,” said Kimberley Mendez from Mooresville, Indiana.

This is a race that people from around the country look forward to all year long. It was named ‘America’s Best Half Marathon’ by USA Today’s 10 Best and recognized as one of ‘America’s Most Iconic Races’ by Runners World.

“We are really excited,” said Lindsay Labas, the vice president of marketing and communications with the 500 Festival. “We hit all 50 states this year and we have 15 countries and five continents that are being represented on Saturday.”

Labas said this is the biggest year for the race since the pandemic.

“I definitely think it’s all because it’s who comes together for it,” she said. “This couldn’t happen without our Indianapolis community, whether that’s our 3000 volunteers that we have, or our local businesses, or military, it really is a community effort and we appreciate everyone that is a part of it.“

The course takes runners throughout downtown Indianapolis and includes live entertainment. One of the most special parts of the race is the ‘Gold Mile’ Inside the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

“The gold mile is all about our fallen heroes here in Indiana,” Kowalkowski said. “It’s one mile inside the 500 track where all our fallen heroes in Indiana have their names and pictures up and you run in remembrance of them.”

The 5K starts at 7 a.m. on Saturday morning and the half marathon will follow that. For more information on this year’s race, click here . Additionally, to learn about parking and street closures, click here .

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