Watchers and participants alike in Sunday’s Dick’s Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon can expect warm weather, overcast skies and a slight chance of rain.
Temperatures are expected to start in the low 50s and rise to the high 60s during the duration of the race Sunday morning, marathon medical director Ron Roth said Friday morning. That would be an improvement from last year’s race, which saw rain and temperatures in the 40s.
According to Accuweather, there is a 53 percent chance of precipitation Sunday morning, though it’s expected to be brief.
“The good news, it will be overcast and may be a little humid,” Roth said. “We may see a sprinkle. Overall pretty good. We’ll start under the green flag and we’ll monitor the temperatures and adjust the flag during the race.”
Mr. Roth added that the rate of injury and illness affecting the runners tends to increase as temperatures rise, and the marathon medical team typically tends to between 200 and 400 runners.
The Pittsburgh Marathon is celebrating its 10th year after being revived in 2009. At Friday’s press conference, Mayor Bill Peduto paid tribute to former Mayor Richard Caliguiri, who started the initial Pittsburgh Marathon in 1985 and died in 1988.
“In his vision was to create a marathon for the city of Pittsburgh and work with world class runners to be able to establish this course,” Mr. Peduto said. “We have been blessed these past 30 years to build a community around that, a community of people who are not only world class, but run for health and recreation. Pittsburgh has seen that vision of Richard Caliguiri take off.”
Omari Sankofa II: osankofa@post-gazette.com and Twitter @omarisankofa
First Published: May 4, 2018, 6:28 p.m.