Virtual marathon pays homage to film star Marilyn Monroe
Race participants must complete 80.1 kilometres by April 30
While filming the classic movie “Niagara” in the summer of 1952, Marilyn Monroe stayed in Room 801 at the Brock Hotel.
The hotel has changed quite a bit over the past 69 years — it is now the Crowne Plaza Hotel — but to history and film and buffs, Room 801 on the eighth floor will always be synonymous with Marilyn Monroe.
Among those fans of nostalgia are the organizers of the annual Niagara Falls International Marathon.
“I was always fascinated with the fact that Marilyn was in the Falls and stayed in Room 801,” said race director Diane Chelsa.
To that end, she and co-race director and husband Henri Ragetlie launched the 80.1 Niagara Marilyn Challenge, a virtual marathon in which participants run or walk 80.1 kilometres in one day or over multiple days.
About 200 runners from across North America have registered to date as well as a few from Europe and Australia.
Registration remains open — at niagarafallsmarathon.com — and the 80.1 kilometres must be completed by April 30.
Participants can compare their times to an online results board and
everyone will receive a medal featuring an image of Monroe in running shoes and a runner’s bib.
The event is also a fundraiser for Pathstone Mental Health, which provides free mentalhealth services to children, youth and their families across Niagara.
“There’s already a natural fit between running and mental health and we’ve done a number of fundraisers for Pathstone and I thought that this would be a strong fit given the mentalhealth issues that are prevalent for people during the pandemic,” Chelsa said.
Meanwhile, the annual Niagara Falls International Marathon, which was cancelled last year due to COVID-19, is tentatively set to go this October.
“I think we’re going to be able to operate, but we won’t open registrations until the summer when we will have a better idea of what’s going on,” Chelsa said.
The marathon, which attracts thousands of runners from around the world, is known as one of the most scenic courses as the route starts in Buffalo, N.Y., and follows Niagara Park- way to the Horseshoe Falls.
“To come to a destination like the Falls is a big draw with people,” Chelsa said.
The marathon is one of the few in the world that starts in one country and ends in another. As a post-pandemic environment is unknown at this time, organizers are unsure if it will remain a cross-border event. Alison Langley is a St. Catharines-based reporter for the Niagara Falls Review. Reach her via email: alison.langley@niagaradailies.com