Growing Destinations
Your go-to source for insightful discussions on destination development. The Growing Destinations podcast delves into the strategies, challenges, and successes that drive community growth. Each episode features in-depth conversations with local and national experts, uncovering universal themes and innovative practices that can be applied to any city or region.
Growing Destinations
Miles of Impact: The Med City Marathon in Rochester, Minnesota
The Med City Marathon in Rochester, Minnesota is one of the longest running marathons in the state. This race has become a signature event in the region, drawing runners, volunteers and spectators from across the Midwest and beyond. Evin Haukos, the Med City Marathon Race Director, has helped shaped the event's momentum and mission. He shares what inspired him to take on this role, what it takes to organize an event of this magnitude and what's ahead for the Med City Marathon in 2025 and beyond.
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Speaker 2:I remember this a couple years ago this guy crossed the finish line and their Mayo Clinic doctor was there and this guy was not even supposed to walk for the rest of his life and he just crossed the finish line. Seeing those experiences are just. I can't get enough of it.
Speaker 1:I just hang out at the finish line. If I can, welcome to the Growing Destinations podcast, where we take a deep dive into destination development and focus on a wide range of topics, from tourism and entertainment to economic development and entrepreneurism and much more. And entertainment to economic development and entrepreneurism, and much more. I'm your host, bill Vaughn Bank. Today, we're lacing up our running shoes and preparing for the MedCity Marathon in Rochester, minnesota.
Speaker 1:As one of the longest running marathons in the state, this race has become a signature event for the region, drawing runners, volunteers and spectators from across the Midwest and beyond. Joining me is Evan Hokas, the MedCity Marathon race director, whose leadership has helped shape the event's momentum and mission. We'll explore what inspired him to take on this role, what it takes to organize a race of this magnitude and what's ahead for the MedCity Marathon in 2025 and beyond. Evan Hokas, welcome to the Growing Destinations podcast. Thanks for having me, bill. Well, you're in the thick of it. The race is coming up in a couple weeks, so tell us about the Med City Marathon, which is, if I'm correct, one of the longest running marathons in the state.
Speaker 2:Yeah, with it being the third longest running event. I mean, we're on our 29th year, so this event was, you know, going a lot longer before I knew much about it and it seems like we've. Initially, it always used to be a Memorial Day weekend event. You know, with our committee, recently we've moved it to the weekend before and have really just tried to bolster the event to be just a great showcase of what Rochester is. So it's an awesome event full of tons of different activities, from health and fitness expos to 5K events. We have a huge kids run where we have about 1,000 kids that come out and run the events. We have relays, half marathons, boston qualifying marathon, you name it.
Speaker 1:That's really cool qualifying for the Boston Marathon, which is a signature national event. Yeah, absolutely it's nice to have that in the city. What first drew you to the MedCity Marathon and what inspired you to step into the role of race director?
Speaker 2:I what first drew you to the MedCity Marathon and what inspired you to step into the role of race director? I used to live in St Cloud, minnesota, and I managed the Earth Day run there, which you know we saw over 5,000 runners every year to that, and so I kind of got my footing as a race director there managing that event. And the pandemic happened and you know we closed that event down for the time being and I started dating somebody from Rochester, minnesota, and kind of serendipitous, a friend of mine from Final Stretch Company reached out and was like hey, I can't manage the MedCity Marathon anymore, I'm not local. And I told him well, this is a great excuse for me to be local. So I ended up moving down here and stepping into the role and it's been a blast, and you have an event management company correct, correct, yeah, under Grey here and stepping into the role, and it's been a blast and you have an event management company, correct, correct?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yep, under Grey Dog Events. When you took over as race director, what vision did you have for the future of the MedCity Marathon? I'm sure you saw what it was and look out a few years and say this is what I want it to be.
Speaker 2:Seeing the MedCity Marathon, with it kind of sitting maybe around 2,000 to 2,500 runners. Initially I knew that it could be a bigger event, especially with it being Rochester, minnesota I mean, it's a city of health. There's a lot going on here. If Fargo and Duluth can do these big scale events, why can't Rochester? And it's still already a nice sized event. But like my friend Mark said, who sold me the event, his big thing was I'm just not local, I'm not here, I can't get the roots going as much as I want to and I want to have somebody do this locally, which I respected that. And so that's kind of just been my outlook of how can we get this event more rooted in the community, showcase it off more and start bringing in more people from the Twin Cities and that's a big thing from exterior communities, showing off Rochester, just making this a really unique event.
Speaker 1:What are you seeing at some of the other races around Minnesota, or even the country that maybe you could bring here? Replicate here.
Speaker 2:I definitely always keep an eye on what Fargo and Duluth are doing. They just create such a unique atmosphere with their local population. They really engage local businesses to get unique sponsorships to create fun things and they do different timing aspects of the event and runner tracking, and before I think this event was just more along the lines of a race in the finish and it wasn't such a big celebration of health around the community. And in the last couple of years that's been something we've been trying to build upon and I think it's been working On the flip side.
Speaker 1:what sets MedCity Marathon apart from other marathons in the region?
Speaker 2:I think it just comes down to Rochester, the Rochester community, you know, with us having, you know, there's Mayo Clinic, but we also have a huge arts population. The downtown is beautiful, we have a lot to show off here, and so that's kind of been a big reason why we've been trying to move the event and just have it deep in the heart of downtown area so that we can, you know, show off everything and who we are and have the volunteers out on the course and just make it a really beautiful course surrounding the Zembro River Trails and just finishing right in the heart of downtown. And, yeah, people are loving it. It's been great.
Speaker 1:What's been the most surprising thing about being a race director? Maybe something you didn't fully anticipate when you took on the role.
Speaker 2:I think for me, it's been really surprising to see that people are coming out of the woodworks to be part of the event and support it, this event. They don't really see it as like, hey, this is this company's event, which I don't feel that way either. It's more like a stewardship role, if that makes sense, right. Everybody really takes ownership of it in this town, from people to the Rochester Running Club to our sponsors. They're like this is our event. And it's surprising, hey, I've got these ideas, I've got these things, and people are just emailing me and willing to take on roles that I did not see that coming. And I start to get stressed. I'm like how do I manage all this? And people are really showing up in this town because they want something bigger and they want it to be a better event, which is cool and it has really made a great impact.
Speaker 1:Reinforces Rochester as a city of care.
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1:What are some of the biggest logistical challenges in organizing an event of this size and how do you tackle them, Believe it or not construction can be one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Rochester doesn't have any of that I swear.
Speaker 2:So you know which, you know construction is important and you know as growing as a city. But yeah, that's always a trick of us having to, you know, remap, a Boston qualifying event. I mean it's not just like you can move a couple streets and roads, right. I mean we're talking, we have to certify this course within the guidelines of it. Being like you get a couple inches of room, right. It's like it can't be short or the course is illegal, right. That's always been a bit of a tricky spot. Honestly, the city of Rochester has been fantastic. I've got a couple of key people that I work with who are just going to bat for me within the city of Rochester. It's super cool Rochester Police Department. They're willing to do a lot of the frustrating things, because events like this are kind of intrusive in a way. Right, because we're shutting down roads, it's difficult to travel. We're doing these things but ultimately, like that's why we have community and if the more people that we can get involved, the better.
Speaker 1:You mentioned certification of a course. What does it take to do that?
Speaker 2:So you have to have a USATF course measurer out there. There's a handful of them in the Midwest. I actually just became one of them the last couple of years, so I actually go out and do certifications for other events and stuff too. So thankfully I can take care of that on my own. I don't have to fly someone in from check that box, which has been an issue in the past. So yeah, calibrating your bike, you manage a lot of different things temperatures and angles and riding tangents, all this jargon but at the end of the day it's a process, to say the least.
Speaker 1:How many staff, volunteers and partners does it take to make Race Weekend happen?
Speaker 2:Oh boy, it takes quite a bit. I think we probably have 20 staff members that are managing different areas of course setup to packet pickup and you name it right. When it comes down to volunteers, we probably have 250 volunteers out on the course. One nice thing that we've been doing we've been working with partners similar to Shields, for example, who help us support and adopt a water stop program. They provide funding which helps us donate dollars directly to local organizations. They come out and they bring droves of people to celebrate and hand out water and you know we can give some dollars back to the community that way and it just reinvests that way. So partners I mean the more partners, the merrier right. We have lots of different organizations helping us out, with active PT leading the charge. They really do a great job just to bolster the event, help provide volunteer support, financial support, all the things that the event needs to operate.
Speaker 1:How do you prepare for unexpected issues like severe weather, medical emergencies or last minute changes?
Speaker 2:It's always something, but we have a large safety team that is filled with the Rochester Police Department, mayo Clinic Care Fire Department, you name it, and then they have actually a large command center on site. To an extent, I kind of take a backseat to their decision-making, because they're the ones who are professionals in that management, and then we make a decision collectively and I would make any announcements if there has to be changes.
Speaker 1:Do you have any personal favorite moments or stories from past marathons.
Speaker 2:For me, the finish line is like it's the most like tingly place for me. You know what I mean. It's like a very emotional experience for me. I love watching it because you get a vast variety of people right In the beginning. You're getting all these people who are like, oh my gosh, I just qualified for Boston and they're freaking out with their families because they're actually going to Boston for the first time because of their time that they sat at Med City Marathon. But at that same exact spot, maybe an hour or two later I remember this a couple of years ago this guy crossed the finish line and their Mayo Clinic doctor was there and this guy was not even supposed to walk for the rest of his life and he just crossed the finish line. Seeing those experiences are just I can't get enough of it. I just hang out at the finish line, if I can.
Speaker 1:And the marathon isn't just for runners. I mean, it's a weekend of activity that the whole family can come and enjoy, correct?
Speaker 2:Absolutely yeah. If you just even like hanging out, if you don't know anything about a run and like watching the experience of seeing people crossing finish lines and, wow, these guys just ran 26.2 miles. I wouldn't do that on a bike, you know, but that you know. Some people feel that way and that's okay. You can experience that and see, maybe you're getting expired. The other piece of it, too. We have lots of musicians and celebrations coming down. We actually got an RDA grant this year to help bolster the Finish Line Festival, which is super cool, so we're going to have some pretty big bands. Megan the Birdwatcher is playing. We have Salty Dog from up in the Duluth area Just awesome street parties. So if you just want to come out and hang out or hit up the Health and Fitness Expo and kind of see what's going on, something for everybody, for sure.
Speaker 1:Let's look ahead a bit. What are your goals for the MedCity Marathon in the next few years?
Speaker 2:My goal for this event. I really just want to see this event surpass 5,000 runners. There's no reason why it shouldn't. You know, when I first started I think in 2019, this event had about 1,900 runners. This last year we surpassed about three thousand, which is great. So we've been steadily growing every year since we've taken over and I don't think that there's any reason why this can't be a must run event in the Midwest. And we're getting there every year. It's getting better and the partnerships are growing and the city's really getting on board with it. So I just want it to be a must run event in the Midwest and I think Rochester could do it Are the bulk of your runners from Minnesota, or do they encompass many States?
Speaker 2:The bulk. Definitely Our exterior population has been growing a lot. We've been pulling a lot from the cities Um, we've been doing a lot more marketing with like the twin cities marathon, and so that's helped us grow. I mean, last year alone I think our full marathon grew like 40%, which is super cool, yeah's great yeah. And so there's a lot of room left for growth, and you know we just want to capture that.
Speaker 1:What motivates you to keep the MedCity Marathon moving forward into the future with and being progressive about it?
Speaker 2:It's the population, it's the you know seeing people at the finish line Post-race everybody's excited. I've gotten so many sponsors that are just like keep doing what you're doing, let's grow this thing, let's do this. The running club people you just name it it's been awesome. That really gets me stoked to keep carrying it forward.
Speaker 1:You mentioned live music being part of the experience, and you yourself are a musician. Can you tell us about that role in your life?
Speaker 2:That's definitely probably the two hats that I wear During this season. I'm basically full-time race director and after the event, with being a little bit burnt out with all the event stuff, I just set the event stuff down and pick up my fiddle. So I'm a fiddle player and I'm playing all over the state, a lot of festivals and you name it. I'm playing with Megan and the Bird Watcher at the Minnesota Yacht Club this year, so that'll be fun. Yeah, we just got a lot of different things going on, but it keeps me busy, that's for sure.
Speaker 1:What other bands do you perform with?
Speaker 2:In town. Here I play with my grandma's cardigan as well. Awesome band, Thank you. And my partner, Gina, who is also the other co-leader of the MedCity Marathon. She is the lead singer of that band. She's a fantastic, great singer.
Speaker 1:Evan Hokas. Great conversation today. Best wishes with this year's MedCity Marathon. Thank you for being our guest on the Growing Destinations podcast. Thanks for having me, bill. Thank you for tuning in to the Growing Destinations podcast and don't forget to subscribe. This podcast is brought to you by Experience Rochester. Find out more about Rochester, minnesota, and its growing arts and culture scene, its international culinary flavors and award-winning craft beer by visiting experiencerochestermncom.
