ATHENS, Ohio (March 28, 2000) -- A Southeastern Ohio tradition will continue Sunday, April 2, with the 33rd running of the Athens Marathon. The 10th annual Athens Half-Marathon also will be run on Sunday. There will be two new features in this year's event: a walker's marathon and a division for four-person relay teams (four legs of about 6.5 miles each).

The action begins at Ohio University's College Green on the corner of Court Street and West Union Street. Both the full and half-marathons and the relay will begin at 11 a.m. The walker's marathon will begin at 10 a.m.

The races will be on the scenic Hocking Adena Bikeway which is fast and flat. The courses are USATF-certified and well marked. Additionally, there are bikeway mileage posts on the bike path every half mile, and water and medical stations will be approximately every 3 miles.

Both races will begin by heading west on Union Street. After approximately a half mile, runners will turn right on Smith Street, and than bear to the left onto Byard. After approximately 300 meters, runners turn right onto Shafer Street, and than make a left onto W. State Street. The first mile mark is located on W. State Street right before entering the W. State Street state park. About a mile and a half into the race, runners will begin running northwest on the Hocking Adena Bikeway towards Nelsonville (from W. State Street, runners will make a right hand turn onto the bike path).

After turning right onto the bike path, runners will pass bike way mile post 4.5 (BW MP 4.5) on the bike path. This is the two mile mark for both races. The half marathon turnaround will be .05 miles south of BW MP 9 approximately 6.45 miles into the race. The marathoners will continue heading north on the bikeway at this point, while the half-marathons will turn around and head back the bikeway to the finish at Peden Stadium (along the bikeway, about 200 meters past BW MP 2.5). The marathon turnaround will be at BW MP 15.5 approximately 13 miles into the race. Marathoners will then head back on the bikeway and finish at Peden Stadium. The course will close at 4:30 p.m. (please remember to set your clocks back one hour for the Daylight Savings Time change Saturday night).

There will be cash prizes in both men's and women's divisions and authentic laurel wreaths from Greece for Marathon winners. There also will be finishing awards for all full Marathon finishers and age group awards for both races.

There is an entry fee of $23 for each of the events. Entry forms are available at various locations around Athens, and on the marathon Web site. Completed forms can be mailed to Athens Marathon, P.O. Box 5780, Athens, OH, 45701. You can call 740-594-3825 for additional information.