By Fred Sturrup, Nassau Guardian
<!-- /templateDebugMode: end template: common/embeddedMedia.html - templateCell: globalDefault.embeddedMedia --> Nassau Guardian - (Bahamas) The marathon races throughout the streets of New Providence in the past have been predominantly localized. The organizers had little or no strategy for a tourism connection in the big way. Visitors who ran marathons and happened to be in the capital at the time, took advantage of the opportunity to observe the local events. There is no attempt here to blame the planners of the past marathons or the tourism officials of the day for not capitalizing on the visitor potential. Quite frankly, around the world, the interest in marathon running was solidified just in certain locations prior to the last three decades. While the Olympic Games' marathons have always been a huge feature of the once-every-four year athletic bonanzas, with the exception of the Boston Marathon, the others that are now prominent had their beginnings relatively late in comparison. Of course the first official men's marathon on record was at the 1896 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. The route actually began in Marathon, the old Greek city that is cemented in world history because of the 490 BC battle. The Army of Athens withstood the strong Persian Army in the Battle of Marathon. One of the triumphant soldiers, Pheidippides, history credits with making the run from Marathon to the city of Athens with the good news. Thus, the name of the great run, being the Marathon. In 1897 the Boston Marathon began. The New York Marathon began in 1970; the London Marathon in 1981; the Beijing Marathon, the same year in 1981; the Midnight Sun Marathon of Canada in 1978 and so on. The locations of the aforementioned marathons used those vehicles to boost their tourism numbers greatly. From the very outset, the respective tourism officials recognized the potential for visitor growth through the marathons. For past marathons in The Bahamas, there were no major tourism drives. That's understood. Marathon Bahamas though is quite different. It appears that the Ministry of Tourism is on board. As mentioned in this space recently, the new Director of Sports Tourism at the ministry, Tyrone Sawyer, is working closely with the Marathon Bahamas Board. Tourism executive Janet Johnson is a member of the board and Marathon Bahamas Chairman Franklyn Wilson has met with Minister of Tourism Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace. Will the ministry play a large role in the success of Marathon Bahamas? I think so. Indeed the view here is that a new standard for Sports Tourism in The Bahamas will be set with Marathon Bahamas VISIT OR REGISTER: www.marathonbahamas.com
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