SALT LAKE CITY — Early in the morning on July 24, hundreds of long-distance runners will gather at the top of Big Mountain, above Salt Lake County’s Emigration Canyon.
The sun will have yet to rise — sunrise is slated for 6:17 a.m. that day — but at 5:30 a.m., following a shot from the traditional starting pistol, the 50th edition of the Deseret News Marathon will commence.
It is a race that has secured a rightful spot in the annals of Utah history.
The Deseret News Marathon is the oldest road race in Utah and the fourth-oldest marathon west of the Continental Divide.
More than that, it is a celebration of Utah’s pioneer heritage, a kickoff for Pioneer Day festivities each year.
“If you are a person who has lived in this valley for a while, you’ve either run it or known someone who has run it, or given birth to someone who has run it,” race director Bob Wood said. “It is an iconic event. It has always been on Pioneer Day — except on Sunday, of course — and that is why they have it.”
The race even attempts to recreate the journey taken by the state’s pioneer ancestors, with its start on Big Mountain, journey through Emigration Canyon and finish at Liberty Park.
“We honor those pioneer stories,” Wood said.
That has always been the case, even as the marathon has evolved from rather humble beginnings in 1970.
When runners first took on the Deseret News Marathon, the course went from then-sleepy Farmington — the city’s courthouse to be exact — to downtown Salt Lake City.
That race was the brainchild of University of Utah cross-country coach Jim Santomier.
“He was the original guy who suggested it, and my college coach at the University of Utah when I was running up there,” Wood said. “He suggested to Keith West (director of promotions at the Deseret News), ‘Hey you guys should sponsor a marathon.’ (Jim) kind of talked (Keith) into it.”
The winner of that inaugural race was Ray Barrus from Grantsville, a former distance runner at BYU, while Santomier finished third.
“I don’t think there were that many people that ran,” Wood said, chuckling. (Officially, 73 people, all men, ran the course.)
The next year, race organizers fully embraced the Pioneer Day aspect of the marathon and moved it up Emigration and East canyons, mimicking the route taken by pioneers into the Salt Lake Valley.
The 1972 race marked the first for former BYU track athlete Darryl Beardall. Beardall would win that race and go on to run it again, in some form or another, every year since.
Years later, the course changed again, making its start in Parleys Canyon, but before that — as was the case in 1974 — the marathon wound its way into the mountains, rather than down and out.
“They started it at the bottom of Big Mountain and went to the top, which is really tough,” Wood said. “That year, my best friend won it, Scott Bringhurst. He didn’t take a drop of water the entire time and still ran it in two hours and 20 minutes. He is in the University of Utah Hall of Fame, of course, and was a great runner in his day.”
Following the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Germany, which saw Frank Shorter win gold for Team USA, the marathon experienced a participation boom, with nearly 1,400 runners entering the race in 1979, ’80, ’81 and ’82.
Then came a decline, as well as the creation of the 10K, in 1983.
I have always said if you have an ounce of pioneer blood in you, then you should do one of these races sometime in your life. – Race director Bob Wood
That race in particular has featured some of the best-known runners in the Pioneer Day showcase, including Olympians Ed Eyestone and Jared Ward. Ward, an Olympian in 2016, is running again this year, in fact.
“There have been a lot of really good runners over the years that have run these races,” Wood said.
Perhaps none finer than Demetrio Cabanillas, who won seven straight marathons from 1976 to 1982 and added two other titles in 1984 and 1987.
“They almost named the race after him I think,” Wood said with a laugh. “He really made quite the reputation for himself and set the course record (2:16.57).”
Wood came on as race director in 2005 and changed the course to its current iteration.
“For years, they started it at Mountain Dell Golf Course, and they would run up, go up the mountain from there,” he said. “I moved it to the top of Big Mountain so that it was really downhill a lot, to try and compensate for the altitude.”
Not including a brief period when he stepped away, Wood has been race director for 10 years. Organizers added the half-marathon in 2013.
The 5K began the same year and “started out as a ‘let’s walk this thing,’ before it became a running event,” Wood said.
Today, the marathon is the smallest of the Pioneer Day races, as far as participation goes, a reflection on the current state of long-distance running.
“The Deseret News puts on this race to give to the community really,” said Wood, “and while we’d like to see the marathon be bigger than it is, it is what it is. The half (marathon), 10K and 5K are just bigger races now.”
Through it all, the Deseret News Marathon, along with its shorter distance cousins, has become a Pioneer Day tradition, and that won’t change with the 50th edition.
“For a lot of people, the race is Pioneer Day,” Wood said. “We’re the Pioneer Day marathon. That’s our niche. That’s our appeal. I have always said if you have an ounce of pioneer blood in you, then you should do one of these races sometime in your life.”