This weekend is the 9th annual Louisiana Marathon in Baton Rouge. Festivities kick off today at the Raising Cane’s River Center with an expo and continues with a series of races throughout the weekend. Marathon spokesperson Jennifer Macha says it’s a big economic driver.
“We’re expecting close to 6,500 runners. We have runners from almost all fifty states and from several different countries so it is a pretty big draw,” said Macha.
Macha says the goal of the weekend is to introduce and encourage everyone to live a healthy and fit lifestyle.
“Once you start, it is not that hard to keep going. Take your first 5k and maybe in a year or two, do a 10k. One of our ultimate missions is to get people a little healthier here in Louisiana,” said Macha.
Macha says you may even spot some state officials running around the downtown streets of Baton Rouge.
“The state offices kind of compete against each other to see which state office has the most runners. Then we have a traveling trophy that they can keep in their office and keep the bragging rights for the year,” said Macha.
Macha says Saturday’s running events will be wrapped up in time for the LSU national championship parade.
