For the second year, the Biosphere 2 campus will be the starting line for the 54th annual Tucson Marathon, a race designed for runners aspiring to compete in the Boston Marathon.
The Dec. 14Β event is certified under USA Track & Field as a Boston qualifier, which includes that the course isnβt all downhill.
Thousands of runners will take off from Biosphere 2 and finish at Pima Community College Northwest Campus for the 54th annual Tucson Marathon.Β
The Tucson Marathon last year moved the course route from starting in the Town of Oracle and ending in Catalina, north of Oro Valley, to the Biosphere 2 start point and ending at Pima Community College North on North Shannon Road.
An estimated 3,000 participants will be competing in either the 26.2-mile full marathon or 13.1-mile half, said marathon director Jamil Coury, co-owner of Aravaipa Running.
Last yearβs menβs champion Riley Nedrow and womenβs champion Obsie Birru wonβt be on hand to defend their titles. Nedrow will be preparing for the 2026 Boston Marathon, while Birru said she is focusing on teaching.
2024 Tucson Marathon womenβs champion Obsie Birru on the course.
Coury, who took over the marathon director position in 2022 from Pam Reed, described the University of Arizona-owned Biosphere 2, a closed-system environmental research center, as βan iconicβ landmark.
βItβs beautiful, especially the pre-dawn hours when itβs all lit up,β he said.
At last yearβs event, both Nedrow and Birru set records.
Nedrow finished in 2:12:47 while Birruβs 2:38:30 set a new womenβs record.
Nedrowβs win came weeks after he competed in the 2024 Mountain West Conference Championships for the University of Wyoming Menβs Cross Country.
βI gave myself basically a six-week block to train for the marathon, which thatβs not really a whole lot of time,β he said.
Apparently, six weeks was plenty.
Nedrow blew past Joseph Morenoβs 2023 time of 2:30:09.
βI was so proud of myself and the training that I had put in; also very grateful for the people I had around me, my parents, and my friends back home,β he said.
2024 Tucson Marathon menβs winner Riley Nedrow on the course.
But Nedrowβs Tucson Marathon time was just outside of the accepted window to qualify for the Boston Marathon last April.
Nedrow wonβt know until late December or early January of what standing he will be in for Boston.
The Tucson Marathon is the second Boston Marathon qualifying event in Tucson this year. In November, Garmin, the pioneer of the worldβs first running smartwatch, held the inaugural Garmin Marathon Tucson, part of the manufacturerβs nationwide marathon series.
Registration for the Tucson Marathon closes at 11:59 p.m. Dec. 13. To sign up, visit tucne.ws/tmsignup.
