DETROIT (WXYZ) — In just under three months, about 24,000 people will take part in the Detroit Free Press Marathon and International Half Marathon.
Compared to the 15,000 total people last year, this year will be the largest field in the race’s 47-year history. It's also the first time they've ever sold out.
For thousands of runners, it's more than just a race. Twenty-nine-year-old Will Sexton of Detroit has ran both the full and half marathons twice.
“It's almost like a 26.2-mile party,” Sexton said of the race. "It's a really great time to celebrate the city of Detroit and the city of Windsor."
Sexton's street is also part of the course and the race takes him right past his family’s house. He already started training for this year's race and planned to sign up in the end of July, the same time he signs up every year. But when he went to register this year, he was met with a big red banner that said "sold out."
“I kind of did one of those things where you refresh the page, try to read it over and over again, and couldn't believe it,” Sexton said. "Obviously, happy for the marathon and the city that it's grown to this size... but definitely surprised.”
Race director Aaron Velthoven says they've noticed demand growing in recent years thanks to more interest in running and in the race itself.
“To sell out really a couple of months before our international deadline is just unprecedented,” Velthoven said. "We're the only race in the world that crosses international borders, so we get people from all over the world descending into Detroit to run our race. We're very much a bucket-list race.”
But with this demand comes a new problem for the race. On websites like Facebook, people are offering to sell or transfer their race bibs to other runners. Sexton messaged with a few of them.
“They were selling for $150, which was kind of tight, but alright,” Sexton said as he was showing a message.
However, Sexton wanted proof and treated each message with skepticism. It turns out, all the account were scammers attempting to use fake registration as proof.
"This guy's name was completely different the other day,” Sexton said explaining how he determined the accounts to be fake. "Once they asked 'You got Zelle?' I was like OK, this is a red flag.”
"This is new territory for us, so this is the first year we’ve had a waitlist," Velthoven said.
The race is aware of scams and has launched a waitlist on their website. They say transferring is also an option through EnMotive but urge caution.
“You don't want to send a Venmo or any type of transaction without really vetting who you’re transacting with,” Velthoven said. "We've had a host of folks successfully transferring their bibs over from injury to a new person, but you just want to watch out.”
Luckily, Sexton didn’t fall victim to the scammers but, he’s still not in the race. He's still holding out hope he finds someone real willing to transfer.
“Hopefully now until the cut-off date, I’ll find somebody,” Sexton said. “Just being patient and using the age-old tip 'if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.'”
There are still spots available in the shorter races like the 5K and the Motor City Half Marathon, which does not cross the border into Windsor.
For more information on the Detroit Free Press Marathon, visit the event's website.
