In 2021, Savannah resident Joice Barnard crossed the finish line of a marathon in Lisbon, Portugal, in pain. She has not run a marathon since.
Barnard recalls thinking she may have just pulled a muscle, but a post-race doctor’s visit revealed a starker prognosis: her hip was shot. The remedy? A full replacement.
“I immediately started thinking, am I going to be able to run after that?” Barnard said.
More: Every Woman’s Marathon ready for Savannah. Here is what to know about road closures, race map
Barnard has her answer and is making her marathon comeback as one of the 7,200 runners registered for the Every Woman’s Marathon Saturday in Savannah. The race is the first marathon in Savannah since 2022, when the city of Savannah ended its relationship with the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon.
Sponsored by Milk and Visit Savannah, organizers tout the race as the first of its kind in the U.S. by being “for women, by women.” Of the 7,200 registrants, around 7,000 identify as female, according to stats from Visit Savannah President and CEO Joseph Marinelli.
More: Savannah marathon announced for 2024. What to know about the race
The race’s mission-based focus contributed to Barnard’s interest in the event. “Everything about it points to it, they are considering women.”
The race team conducted research asking women questions like about what barriers they faced in participating in marathons, and what were “misses” in marathons they ran before, said Miranda Abney, MilkPEP’s vice president of marketing.
The race website shares that portable restrooms along the route will be stocked with “female products,” and race organizers also developed training courses to help runners prepare for race day. Those courses included some pointers for new moms or busy executives, said Abney, who also is running the race.
“Just anything that we can think of, we are trying to supply to these women,” Abney said.
Beyond race-day resources and focused training guides, the race’s mission also helped build community. Abney said after the race was announced, a runner-created Facebook group popped up, and racers have used the forum to ask questions and keep updated about the race.
Community is one factor that draws Every Woman’s Marathon participant Kim Rodriguez to running. Rodriguez remembers running her first 10k race and experiencing the outpour of support from other runners and supporters along the race route.
Rodriguez founded an online running community of her own, Latinas Running, which has about 6,000 followers on Instagram. About 40 women from that online community are meeting in Savannah for the Every Woman’s Marathon, coming from different states such as Florida, Virginia and Texas, Rodriguez said.
This event will be the group’s first national meet up. “I’m actually very excited to go to Savannah and run the streets of Savannah with my community,” Rodriguez said.
Marinelli, Visit Savannah’s president and CEO, said 97% registrants are from outside the Savannah market. Using statistics from the Rock n’ Roll marathons, each participant brings an additional two people in friends or family to the race, Marinelli said.
Data on economic impact and tourism is expected after the race. One local business receiving a boost from another high-profile running event in Savannah is the local Fleet Feet, which is also providing the race’s pacing team. The organization is also setting up a shop for the race’s wellness fair and expo at Trustee’s Garden on Friday.
Owner of Fleet Feet Savannah and Pooler Mike Nadeau said the organization hosted its own training course for this race which about 75 to 100 people participated in, he said.
“(The race) helps elevate our business because it gets more people running, it gets more people active, it gets more people walking,” Nadeau said.
When the new marathon was announced in January, it did come with some reservations from residents after the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon brought disruptions to neighborhoods. Businesses along Forsyth Park were forced to close for nearly an entire day due to the finish line and staging area being located in the park, and downtown residents reported being stuck at their homes due to road closures.
Race organizers have sought to address those community concerns by engaging neighborhood leaders at a meeting in August, moving the finish celebration to private property at Trustee’s Garden and not towing cars along the race course (with one exception being the start line).
More: Every Woman’s Marathon organizers engage Savannah neighborhoods ahead of November race
Mayor Van Johnson has said that the race’s future in Savannah depends on the race hitting “high watermarks” for reducing impacts to residential quality of life.
“We’ll see where it goes. If they do well this year, we’ll talk about 2025 and 2026,” Johnson said at an event in June.
Evan Lasseter is the city of Savannah and Chatham County government reporter for the Savannah Morning News. You can reach him at ELasseter@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Every Woman’s Marathon expected to bring about 7,000 runners to Savannah
