For one Pilot Mountain resident, the renowned Boston Marathon will become a hometown event on Saturday.
Amelia Sawyers Holt will be completing her own version of the annual marathon in and around Pilot Mountain, after the spring race was cancelled as a result of COVID-19 restrictions.
She qualified for the race by finishing the Myrtle Beach Marathon in 2019 in 3 hours and 16 minutes — better than the 3:30 cutoff for Boston Marathon qualification — and was all set to go to perhaps the worlds’ most famous marathon.
When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, the race was first postponed until September, then cancelled. Runners who qualified, however, have the option to make their own hometown version of the marathon, and that’s just what Sawyers Holt will be doing Saturday.
“Even though I’d had doubts that it would be held,” Holt said of her thought process after the initial postponement, “I had decided to keep running and training. I started increasing my distance about two months ago. When they said it was going virtual, I decided I’d invested too much effort and had too many people cheering me on to quit. I was going to run it.”
Runners were given the option of scheduling events at any time between Sept. 7-14. Holt will begin her 26.2 mile course on Saturday morning at 6:30 a.m. from her parents’ home at 516 W. Main St. A contingent of family, friends and supporters are expected to be cheering and offering encouragement throughout the run.
After her early morning start on West Main Street, Holt will head toward Old Westfield Road before taking Jessup Grove Church Road to Brown Mountain Road. From there, she will take Pilot-Westfield Road to Mitchell Road circling back to East Highway 52 Bypass. Holt will then take Old Winston Road to Black Mountain Road. She will then get on N.C. 268 for a brief stint before taking Golf Course Road to Nelson Road to Main Street, on the way back to her starting point.
“I hope to see some people along the way,” she said. “The more supporters you have, the better. I’m looking forward to it, to getting this done. This year has been a difficult one and it’s nice to be doing something positive.”
“Whether it’s in Boston or in Pilot Mountain,” Holt noted, ”running 26.2 miles is a humbling accomplishment.”
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com
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