UPDATE: On Saturday morning, Dallas Marathon officials announced they had reached an agreement with the San Antonio Rock 'n' Roll Marathon, which will now take place on November 17, not December 8.
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Marathons aren't typically hotbeds of controversy. After all, what's so scandalous about running for three or four hours? But the Dallas Marathon is calling in the cavalry after San Antonio scheduled its 26.2-mile race on the same day as ours: December 8, 2013.
You'd think this was some sort of crazy mix-up. Surely the organizers wouldn't intentionally invite all sorts of ill will between residents of Dallas-Fort Worth and San Antonio. As it turns out, both city's races are affiliated with Competitor Group Inc.
The San Antonio Marathon was originally scheduled for November 17 but was changed to December 8 last month. According to Dallas Marathon spokesman Greg Miller, this switch occurred without notification.
"The Dallas Marathon considers CGI's actions to be a material breach of its contract, which would cause irreparable harm to the Dallas Marathon, the City of Dallas and our beneficiary, Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children," Miller said in a statement on Friday.
According to Miller, the Dallas Marathon's contract with CGI explicitly prevents the group "from staging a running event in the state of Texas from December 1 through May 31." The only exception to that clause is the Dallas Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon, an annual spring race that falls on March 24, 2013.
The San Antonio Marathon is also of the rock 'n' roll variety, so it's possible that CGI sees the exception as transferrable. Clearly, the perception is not mutual.
"The Dallas Marathon intends to take whatever steps are necessary to protect the interests of all those who benefit from our great racing event," Miller said.
After years of running under the banner of the White Rock Marathon, the race rebranded as the Dallas Marathon in 2012.
