It may be more than four months away, but organizers for the 13th annual Monument Marathon are already hitting their stride to ensure this year’s race continues to build on its continued success.
On Monday, representatives from the WNCC Foundation, Platte Valley Companies, and Western Nebraska Community College were on hand for a kickoff press conference to start generating a buzz for the September 28, 2024 marathon, half-marathon, relay, and 5k.
“The race has something for everyone. We are so thankful to our runners, volunteers and sponsors and have raised over $47,000 in ’23 to support WNCC student success,” said race director Jennifer Reisig. “That brings the total raised over the life of the Monument Marathon to $555,000.”
She noted that none of this would be possible without the generosity of Platte Valley Companies and their President/ CEO Hod Kosman.
“For the 13th year in a row, we say thank you for being the title sponsor of the Platte Valley Companies Monument Marathon.”
Kosman addressed those in attendance, noting the importance the Monument Marathon has on the region.
“We are very honored to be part of such a great organization and in the very beginning it was very evident that we needed an organization like WNCC. One, that the value can accrue to future generations from putting this on and two, some organization, some entity that would have the ability to put this on year after year after year.”
He noted that working the finish line every year, he has learned there’s so many different reasons that people sign up for the race.
“We were talking earlier about there’s always a reason that someone’s running- and I’ve never found that reason,” joked Kosman.” The camaraderie of the relay groups of competing. The abilities of young kids to run a half marathon, run the 5k in record time is really amazing. There are those that have their own personal reasons, and that’s a really important part of their lives that they do this. And then sometimes I see people who are in their seventies who run 50 plus marathons and I’m going ‘Well you’re a little crazy too to do this, and that’s okay. It’s a good crazy. So we’re very appreciative that the community supports this the way it does.”
Each year, the Monument Marathon raises thousands of dollars for scholarships awarded by the WNCC Foundation. This year, students Benjamin Firminhac and Victoria Schwartz were on the panel to talk about how important that scholarship money is.
Firminhac was able to attend while playing baseball for the WNCC Cougars, while Schwartz was able to pursue a nursing degree and graduate debt free.
She noted that life threw a curveball her way, which resulted in her attending WNCC.
“I chose WNCC for many reasons,” said Schwartz. “If I’m honest, it was my plan B…. I was at UNMC in Kearney when I got news of a tragedy that struck our town and affected me personally. I was at a nursing program there and failed out of that nursing program and actually received a call from an instructor at WNCC telling me not to give up and gave me an opportunity and I fell in love with WNCC and the nursing program here.”
Schwartz said in retrospect, she would not change how her academic career unfolded.
“Honestly, the word I would describe it as life saving. At the time of this tragedy, I was probably at my lowest low. I didn’t really think I had any other option. So just knowing that I had people there for me, when they weren’t my first option to still, support students to still come back and kind of get me back on track. It truly does mean everything and it really was life saving.”
Firminhac also detailed the joy he received from volunteering at the race.
“Volunteering at the marathon was great last year even though I’m just from Torrington, Wyoming, and was really close, I didn’t really know that this was going on here and it was really cool to see how big of a deal it was and how many people participated and how great the people were that were participating,” shared Firminhac. “There’s people that I knew from Torrington. It was just really special to see how many people were participating in it and how big of a deal it was to the community.”
Volunteers are a key component for the Monument Marathon, and Reisig says that each year it takes upwards of 300 volunteers to make the event happen. She took the time this week to explain that there are so many options for people to volunteer their time, whether it only be an hour or so or the entire race day.
“There are two groups, our steering committee and the race crew. They meet much of the year. So that’s a bigger time commitment, a meeting on a regular basis. But then we also have people who come and help stuff bags- that’s about two hours at the Civic Center aA few days before the expo on race day,” said Reisig.
“There are people who work 2 hours, 4 hours, the entire race time. The race starts at 7:30. There are people who are there -some of us are there by about 4 a.m. And there are people who are there right around that time all the way until we close up at about 2:00 in the afternoon. So if people have 2 hours, something like ‘I want to be involved in this, but I don’t have all day or I don’t have a day every month,’ there are definitely things that they can do that a two hour time shifts, standing on a corner, helping make sure runners turn the corner while they, you know, have a cowbell making some noise and cheering them on.”
“So we want people to get involved however they want and whatever time they have to get. So MonumentMarathon.com , there’s a get involved tab and that’s where people can go to see some examples of what there is to do.”
WNCC President Greg Dart was also on hand, and said that 2023 was his first Monument Marathon experience, and he was amazed at the community support for this race. He told KNEB News that he’s really excited for 2024’s race now that he truly knows what to expect.
At the end of the day, there’s so many ways to be a part of the 2024 Monument Marathon. Runners and walkers of all skill levels can compete in a 5k course all the way up to a full 26.2 mile marathon. Volunteers young and old alike can commit their time to help set up ahead of time, cheer on participants, help with clean up and other behind the scenes activities. There’s also the option to just donate funds to the WNCC Foundation to help with those scholarships that help our local students so they can focus on their schoolwork rather than worry about their finances.
To find out more information about the Monument Marathon and ways to get involved, you can visit their website or contact Reisig at .
