North Carolina Marathon move race's location

Organizers of the North Carolina Marathon said they’ll be moving the race from Greensboro to High Point.

The surprise announcement came last week, and officials have yet to announce all the changes, including the new course.

“We faced some budget challenges in Greensboro, and we received a huge blessing,” Melissa Fourrier of Foster Friends of North Carolina said.

The race is the biggest fundraiser for the non-profit organization.

“We feel grateful. High Point offered to host the race free of charge for our security cost,” Fourrier said.

Officials haven’t said how much Greensboro wanted for security, but they said when you’re raising money for kids, every dollar counts.

“High point seemed to have the better offer for us, which allowed us to have more money for the children,” Foster Friends board member David Miller said.

Last year, the race brought in some $40,000 for the non-profit, but organizers said while financial concerns played a big part in the move, money wasn’t the only factor.

“Our goal is to make the course flatter and faster. A lot of our runners are trying to qualify for the Boston Marathon. This will be a Boston certified event, so we want to make sure they have the opportunity to run as fast as they can to get that time that they need to qualify for Boston,” Slade Lewis of the North Carolina Marathon Committee said.
Lewis said he’s confident in the security High Point officials will provide, especially as the May 2 race follows right on the heels of the International Furniture Market.
“High Point handles 80,000 people twice a year for this event, and so we know they have the experience with dealing with crowd management,” Lewis said.
This year’s race should draw around 3,000 runners, which is about twice the number as last year.
“The marathon does several things. The number one, of course, is that it does raise money, but it also raises awareness and foster children by definition often don’t have a lot of advocates,” Miller said.