500 Festival Mini Marathon May Not Sell Out

After 12 consecutive years of selling out, the 500 Festival Mini Marathon might not fill up this year.  Organizers say they’ll still be able to hang on to the distinction of having the largest half marathon in the country.

In the past there’ve been wait lists and transfer programs to get one of the 35,000 slots for the mini marathon. But 500 Festival Communications Manager Megan Bulla says the last few years it has begun taking longer to sell out the event.

‘”I think this year in particular it was just really hard with the weather, obviously it was a very tough and late winter," Bulla said.  "People didn’t get out and have the opportunity to train outside like they wanted to.”

Bulla says she expects the race will come close to filling since registration doesn’t close until the day before the event.  She says the race will continue to be the largest half marathon in the country.  Last year, the second largest half marathon which is in San Francisco had about 4,000 fewer finishers than Indy.