This year's Baltimore Marathon Festival will take place October 16-19 according to Boo Corrigan of Corrigan Sports Enterprises, the management company overseeing the event.

The three running events, the Comcast Marathon, the GEICO Direct Team Relay and Fila 5 K, will take place on Saturday, Oct. 19. The marathon and team relay begin at 8 AM and the 5K at 8:30 AM. The Celebration Village, located in Lot B of Ravens Stadium, is free and open to the public from 9 AM to 5 PM on race day with live music, interactive games, food and drink. The Aetna Health & Fitness Expo is open Oct. 16-18 and offers the latest in running gear and merchandise.

The course for this year's marathon and team relay, which runs the same route as the marathon, has been altered. "We're excited about the new course. Due to concerns of the city, department of public works and the police, as well as the runners, we made changes to the course," said Corrigan. "The new course will assist in alleviating some of the traffic issues as well as reduce some of the elevation changes." Certification for the course is pending.

A course map and race route can be viewed at www.thebaltimoremarathon.com

Last year's Inaugural Baltimore Marathon Festival drew nearly 10,000 total runners with the Comcast Marathon being the 13th largest in the United States in terms of the number of participants. In a study done by RESI Research, the Marathon Festival brought in more than $8 million to the city and nearly $700,000 was raised for charity.