Rocket City Marathon registration remains open

HUNTSVILLE – Registration remains open for the 2025 Rocket City Marathon and weekend events surrounding the 49th annual race set for Dec. 1214 in Huntsville. Current registration prices will remain until a price increase after Nov. 23.

The marathon weekend includes the 26.2-mile marathon and half-marathon on Sunday, Dec. 14. The weekend kicks off with the Health & Fitness Expo inside the Von Braun Center on Friday beginning at 2:00 p.m. and running through Saturday, Dec. 13 at 6:00 p.m. On Saturday, the race weekend will feature the 10K beginning at 7:00 a.m. followed by the 5K race starting at 9:00 a.m. and immediately following at 10:30 a.m. the family friendly 1-Mile fun run/walk. One of the changes for 2025 includes all of the race events start and finish at the Von Braun Center.

All registered runners will receive a long-sleeve race shirt, finished medal and post-race food and party-style gathering.

“Logistically, we plan for a much better presentation at the race start than in the past and are adding more space and features to the finish line party to improve the runners experience. That has been our overall goal for the year, to do what we can to improve the experience of the runners,” said Eric Fritz, marathon race director. “To add to our goal of improving the overall race experience for everyone we are making a major focus on recruiting more and more volunteers. A race like this requires hundreds of individuals to give their time and focus on the second weekend in December all to show off our town. As such we are looking for more volunteers than ever to sign up.”

A slight makeover will greet all participants for this year’s event as the race course has been altered from the one used the last few years. According to Fritz, “We moved the ‘Tour of Twickenham / Old Towne / Downtown’ to the beginning of the race to aid with traffic/ church conflicts. We removed the climb up to CCI to avoid the hill and traffic issues with Holmes Ave as the course no longer goes by UAH to Wynn Dr. Various little changes to match up all the distances to start within the area in front of Propst Arena as well as make the course easier to manage and faster for the runners when possible.”

In addition, the famed race will sport a new logo- branding including a new logo with a Saturn V rocket alongside the Space Shuttle surrounded by red, white and blue pattern paying tribute to Big Spring Park and the Travellers II sculpture.

Earlier this year, it was announced the change this year for the event to include partnering with the Huntsville Hospital Foundation as all proceeds from the three-day gathering will benefit the Women’s & Children’s Pediatric Therapy and Audiology. The new partnership is the first of its kind in what will be the 49th running of the marathon.

“We feel giving back to our overall community of Huntsville/Madison area is the best use of our efforts and we are excited to have the Hospital Foundation on board with us. Not only will we be able to provide a significant donation that will serve everyone in our community, partnering with the Hospital will provide countless new opportunities for the community in general to get involved in the event in the long term,” added Fritz.

Current registration is on record pace. The marathon has 1,486 registered, 108 of which are from Madison. The half-marathon- 1,236/140, 10K468/70, 5K- 469/61, 1-mile family run/walk- 184/72. That brings the total to 3,843/451. “Registration has been surprisingly phenomenal this year. We are expecting a growth of 25-40-percent over last year’s registration numbers,” said Fritz. “We currently have runners from 46 of the 50 states, District of Columbia, Mexico, Canada, South Africa, China, Albania, and Andorra.”

The official e-mail address for the marathon event is rocketcitymar-athon@ huntsvillrtrackclub. org. Registration and volunteer assistance signup are available at www. rocketcitymarathon.run. The Huntsville Track Club website is huntsvilletrackclub. org. Volunteers, who are badly needed, can register at www.signup. com/go/wHfQewk.