Arlington's Special Events Work Group approved Arlington Co. Running Club's proposal for the Arlington Marathon to be held Sunday, May 2, 2004.

The course shows off Arlington's unique "urban village" perimeter parkway. It starts and finishes at 8 am at Washington- Lee High School track, 1301 North Stafford Street. The course then heads west on the Custis-Lee (I-66) Trail to Bon Air Park, north to East Falls Church Park, south to Bluemont Park, Bluemont Junction Trail, Glencarlyn Park, and Barcroft Park, and then returns north and east to Rosslyn and back to W-L.

"It's an urban village marathon," said event director Jay Jacob Wind, a longtime Arlington resident and veteran of 96 marathons. "It's possibly the most beautiful urban village marathon in America. The middle part of the course is nice and flat, but watch out for those hills near the start and finish -- they'll flatten you!"

Because this is the marathon's first year and the park trails are narrow, the Special Events Work Group limited the marathon to 250 participants. "We'll start them in flights of 50, sub 3:00 marathoners first, then two minutes later, sub-3:30's, and so on," said Wind. "We'll have overall and age-group prizes, plus special prizes for first-in-flight, this being the 100th anniversary week of the first manned flight."

The marathon is the first new marathon approved in the DC area since the Washington DC Marathon was cancelled in March 2003. Wind and dozens of others worked to save the March 23 event and organized The Unofficial Washington DC Marathon, with 591 registered participants. "I hope the enthusiastic community spirit of The Unofficial Washington DC Marathon lives on in the Arlington Marathon. We're small, but so is Arlington -- we're the nation's second-smallest county. Of course, the nation's largest marathon finishes in the nation's smallest county!"

In addition to the marathon, other proposed weekend activities include an expo and packet pick-up on Saturday, May 1, open to the public, at one of the Marriott hotels; a dinner Saturday 1 for marathon participants, honoring the D.C. area's Olympic Trials Qualifiers, including Arlington's Michael Wardian; a youth/all-comers/Special Olympics track meet at Washington- Lee, simultaneous with the marathon; and a Sunday night post- race dance party.

Clubs endorsing the marathon are Capitol Hill Runners, hesapeake Bay Running Club, Northern Virginia Running Club, Potomac Valley Track Club, Washington RunHers, and Washington Running Club. Charity beneficiaries are Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Special Olympics Virginia, Arlington County Civic Federation 911 Scholarship Fund, and Arlington Public Schools music and athletic programs. Sponsors to date include Buck & Associates, Lawson & Frank, Mario's Pizza, and Marriott Corporation.

More than 60 people wrote letters of support to Arlington County Board, and more than 150 signed petitions of support.

Potomac Valley Track Club hosts the marathon's Web site. Online registration opened on Thursday, December 11. Members of the six endorsing clubs and CFF or SOV families can take advantage of the special early-bird rate of $26.20 without a t-shirt, $35 with a t-shirt, before December 31; non-members can register for $35 without a shirt, $45 with, before December 31. Thereafter, the price goes up by $10 each month until registration is capped.

"We welcome everyone, but because this course is challenging and because we need to sweep the course after five hours, we especially invite open male marathoners with a sub-4:00 qualifying time; open females with a sub-4:30 time, and masters within ten minutes of their Boston qualifying time," said Wind. "We pay police and fire rescue by the hour, and we want to reopen the trails to public usage right after the last runner goes by. We also want a colorful sporting event that's fun to run and fun to watch, so we encourage neighbors to show their spirit with balloons, boom boxes, clowns, costumes, fresh fruit, light shows, music, streamers, and water tables. We'll have a prize for the best Neighborhood Spirit Station. In addition to Spirit Stations, we'll have a dozen official water and first aid stations along the course."

Sponsors are also needed to help cover the costs of the race. Sponsors get pre-race and post-race publicity, race-day banner signage and goodie bag inserts, and display space at the expo.

Call (703) 218-2726 or see the race Web site or e-mail the race director for more information.