BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Governor Andrew Cuomo confirmed in an announcement in Buffalo on Thursday that the Buffalo Marathon will be run the weekend of June 26 and 27.
The marathon will operate at around 50% of its usual capacity and additional health and safety protocols will be in place for participants, event staff, and volunteers.
For 2021, the marathon will accommodate around 3,600 participants and will be broken into four races:
- A 5K on June 26
- Two half marathons, each on June 27
- One marathon on June 27
NYS says each race will be broken into cohorts of 200 runners which aligns with the state's current outdoor social gathering limit. Each runner will be assigned an arrival time, start time, and socially distanced starting location with waiting area. All results will be provided virtually.
Buffalo Marathon Executive Director Greg Weber said, "I commend Governor Cuomo for his leadership through the course of this pandemic and for working hard to reopen our state safely and responsibly. The Buffalo Marathon has been our big summer kick-off tradition for two decades now, and thanks to the Governor's careful management and science-based decision making and the work of our dedicated county and city leaders, we now have the opportunity to celebrate the marathon's twentieth anniversary as a community."
Race organizers announced on Monday, April 19 that the in-person event was moved until Sunday June 27th. The race had originally been tentatively scheduled for the end of May.
At the time, the event still needed final state approval to move forward. Cuomo's announcement on Thursday confirmed the race can go on.
