Sam Morris/Las Vegas News Bureau
Runners leave the starting line during the Rock ‘n’ Roll Las Vegas Marathon 5K run Saturday, November 11, 2017, at the Las Vegas Festival Grounds.
Sunday, Nov. 11, 2018 | 2 a.m.
Six years after the Las Vegas Marathon was purchased by its current organizers and moved back one month to November, the event remains the most widely-attended gathering of 25 Rock N’ Roll marathons across the globe.
“We’re the only private event that has the privilege of closing off the Strip,” said Josh Furlow, Rock N’ Roll’s managing director of North America. “This is our Super Bowl.”
More than 40,000 runners, representing all 50 states and 86 countries, will take to Las Vegas Boulevard today for the 10 kilometer, half-marathon and marathon races, all of which begin in the afternoon under natural sunlight and end under the neon glow of Strip casino lights.
Sgt. Ryan Cook of Metro Police ran the marathon 10 years ago as a personal commitment to fitness, bringing along a dozen young future officers from Metro’s academy as a way to inspire them to stay in shape.
Back this year for a 10-year anniversary run, Cook’s group will participate in honor of Alyn Beck, a former academy member and officer who was killed on the job in 2014. The group, which also features Beck’s widow Nicole Beck, will run in a two-by-two lined formation as a show of unity.
Cook also cited slain officer Charleston Hartfield, who died at last year’s Route 91 Harvest Festival shooting, as motivation for the team’s reunion run.
“We want to show that we’re resilient and we stand with the community,” Cook said.
Pat Christenson, president of Las Vegas Events, said there is “no more unique event in Las Vegas” than the annual marathon on the Strip. The longtime valley events organizer said locals “should not take this event for granted.”
The festivities will affect traffic on Las Vegas Boulevard. The RTC announced several of its bus routes would be altered on Sunday from 2 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. Commission representatives urged riders to allow extra time for their commute.
RTC service will be detoured or shut down on all routes that encounter Las Vegas Boulevard from Mandalay Bay to downtown. Multiple routes in Henderson and the Boulder Highway will also be affected.
