Grand Rapids Marathon

The Metro Health/Grand Rapids Marathon is a 42.195-kilometre (26.219 mi) race run every October in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA since 2004. It is a USATF certified course. The Grand Rapids Marathon picked up Metro Health as a title sponsor in 2008. The full marathon gives runners a tour of downtown Grand Rapids and then heads out of the city and into the trails of Millennium Park. It is considered a flat, fast course and is a qualifying opportunity for the Boston Marathon.

The race director is Don Kern.

The marathon utilizes "celebrity" pace teams, based on the times of famous people who had run marathons. The current pace teams include Oprah (4:29), P. Diddy (4:14), Will Ferrell (3:56), George W. Bush (3:44), Billy Baldwin (3:24), and Pi (3:14).

Apart from the main event, there is also a kids marathon, 5K, 10K, half-marathon, marathon relay and fitness expo.

The 2011 overall winner was Justin Gillette (Goshen, Indiana)in a time of 2:27:44. The female winner was Dani Steinbacher (Ann Arbor, Michigan), who achieved a time of 2:58:12.

2012 is expected to be a 6,000-person event.