Sun, Nov 22 2009
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Joplin bureau planning ‘Mother Road Marathon’ Lindstrom said the Route 66 Mother Road Marathon Committee, which has been organizing the marathon for three months, is hoping to attract as many people to the Miami-Joplin marathon as Tulsa has to its race. “This would be an annual event held the first Saturday in October,” he said. “Marathons are probably one of the hottest attractions going. What we are hoping to do is transform this into a regional Route 66 festival involving the communities of Galena and Baxter Springs in Kansas, and Quapaw and Commerce in Oklahoma. “Route 66 ties us together as a tourism region. We could have special events all along the route. We want people involved the whole 26 miles.’’ Lindstrom said it is possible the marathon could attract European runners once it gets established. Knudson said that is possible. “There is a worldwide interest in Route 66,” he said. “Thirty percent of our members are from other countries. We believe that is a parallel figure to those who travel Route 66 as tourists.’’ Lindstrom said, “We will need an army of volunteers. If you can’t do the marathon, you can get involved as volunteers. Every two miles, we’ll have a water base and medical facility.’’ Lindstrom said local runners can start getting in shape by preparing for and participating in the half-marathon that is part of Boomtown Days in June. By early October, they could be ready for a 26-mile run. He said the winner of the local marathon will probably complete it in three hours or less. “This concept is not new by any stretch of the imagination,’’ said Tommy Pike, head of the Route 66 Association of Missouri. “The Bunion Derby, as it was called, was run in 1928. It was from Los Angeles to Chicago along Route 66, and then to New York City. It was won by Andy Payne, of Foyil, Okla. He won $25,000.’’ Payne, an Oklahoma Cherokee, was age 20 when he decided to enter the 1928 Transcontinental Foot Race. It took 84 days to complete. The Mother Road In his famous social commentary, “The Grapes of Wrath,’’ John Steinbeck proclaimed Route 66 the “Mother Road.’’ Steinbeck’s classic 1939 novel, combined with the 1940 film of the epic odyssey, served to immortalize Route 66 in the American consciousness, according to David Knudson, director of the National Historic Route 66 Federation in Lake Arrowhead, Calif. An estimated 210,000 people migrated to California to escape the despair of the Dust Bowl. 
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