The second annual Jersey City Marathon will take place Sunday, April 14, 2024, announced the event’s founder and organizer Steve Lipski. With a course that will be “substantially the same” as last year’s, Lipski is once again hoping to attract thousands of runners from across the globe.
“We’re looking for ways to minimize any turns to make it (the route) even faster” than last year, Lipski said, with a route that spans the northern-most section of the east side of Jersey City down to the southern-most section and through parts of Jersey City that traditionally have not had as much activity go thru it.”
The course includes stretches of Washington Boulevard, Caven Point Road, Princeton Avenue, Neptune Avenue, Garfield Avenue, and Grand Street.
In planning the 2024 event, Lipski has enlisted the help of last year’s third-place finisher, Alberto Mena, to recruit other “elite” runners as the organizers were able to do last year.
Lipski has already secured three sponsors for the upcoming race: The City of Jersey City, CompuScore, and LeFrak Newport. He’s also seeking restaurants near the end of the route to offer discounts to the thousands of participants who will surely hang out in the festive atmosphere at the finish line.
Lipski acknowledges that it will be tougher to attract the same number of participants as last year, when 6,300 runners registered for the event. “It’s always harder the second time around,” he said.
A thirteen-time marathoner himself, Lipski appreciates that Jersey City’s route is “one of the flattest courses in all of America” with a total elevation gain in 26 miles of only 200 feet, “a twenty-story building.”
Last year’s two top finishers, a man from Charlottsville, VA and a woman from Heath, TX, were able to qualify for the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials based on their race times, Lipski also reports.
Runners interested in registering for the race can do so at RunSignUp.com (and are encouraged to do so as soon as possible to secure a spot). Last year the race filled up in January.