Charlotte's marathon is sold out. But organizers now face a course correction.
The Charlotte Marathon has a problem that would have seemed enviable not so long ago: Too many people want to run it. Running clubs have multiplied across Charlotte, introducing newcomers to the sport and helping turn marathon morning into something resembling a citywide reunion — and this year, weeks before race day, registration for the Nov. 14 event officially sold out when it hit a record-setting 13,250 runners. Now, under new ownership , organizers are contemplating future growth that could involve perhaps 20,000 participants, more visitors from outside North Carolina and a place among the country’s premier destination races. But between Miles 22 and 24, where the full-marathon course squeezes onto a narrow stretch of greenway connecting NoDa to uptown, Charlotte’s ambitions run into a physical barrier. And that, according to the woman responsible for making the race work, is where ambition encounters reality. “The greenway is our clog point,” says Alaina Williams, who oversees operations for the Charlotte Marathon, noting that the width of the asphalt path is eight feet. “I cannot put any more runners on the greenway. Physically, it will not fit.” It’s one of several obstacles confronting a race whose popularity is testing the limits of
