Pittsburgh Marathon will return in 2009

The Pittsburgh Marathon will return next year with a new sponsor, city and county officials said this morning.

The Dick's Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon will be run May 3. It will be the 20th running of the race.

A route for the 26.2-mile race through Pittsburgh's neighborhoods is still in the works, as are the cash prizes for the winners, said Mayor Luke Ravenstahl.

In 2003, the last year the race was run, the first-place male and female finishers took home $12,500 and the start/finish line was at Heinz Field in the North Shore. Ravenstahl said the route next year will be similar to past years. Point State Park might be the finish line, assuming construction on the park is complete, Ravenstahl said.

"We do expect this to be one of the elite marathons in this country yet again," said Jeffrey R. Hennion, executive vice president of Dick's Sporting Goods. "We are going to make sure runners everywhere know about it."

Hennion said Dick's has made a three-year commitment to sponsoring the race. He would not disclose the size of the sporting goods chain's contribution.

Finding a major sponsor was the key to the marathon's return, said Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato, who was on hand for the announcement in the City-County Building, Downtown.

"The vast majority of funding is in place," Onorato said.

Other sponsors announced for the return include Respironics and UPMC Sports Medicine. Organizers are seeking additional, small sponsors.

The event was canceled in 2004 because the race's title sponsor, UPMC, pulled out. Then-Mayor Tom Murphy said the city couldn't afford to pay the high costs of extra police protection and clean-up because the city was on the verge of bankruptcy and had recently laid off 730 workers.

The first Pittsburgh Marathon was in 1985. It attracted about 2,500 runners. The event eventually grew to attract 6,000 people from 50 states and 20 countries, organizers have said.