The Greater Wichita Area Sports Commission, a 501(c)6 business non-profit, has operated the annual marathon since 2010 when it was rebranded from the Wichita Marathon to the Prairie Fire Marathon which is held on the second Sunday of October. The Prairie Fire Spring Half Marathon was added in 2013 and …
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The Greater Wichita Area Sports Commission, a 501(c)6 business non-profit, has operated the annual marathon since 2010 when it was rebranded from the Wichita Marathon to the Prairie Fire Marathon which is held on the second Sunday of October. The Prairie Fire Spring Half Marathon was added in 2013 and is held on the first Sunday of May.
The Prairie Fire Marathon is a USATF Certified Race (KS19019TJD) and a Boston Marathon Qualifier with a fast course design taking runners through the heart of Wichita. Runners begin at Riverfront Stadium, run into downtown, then the Old Town district, run along the Douglas Design District, and pass through the lively College Hill area. The course continues through the Crown Heights neighborhood and into the very unique City of Eastborough. All races will turn and pass through a similar route back through downtown as the Half Marathon will make a turn for home.
The Marathon will continue along the Arkansas River and near Riverside. Runners will tour the quaint Indian Hills neighborhood before turning back towards home along the Arkansas River once more.
ALL RACES WILL FINISH INSIDE RIVERFRONT STADIUM. As runners run into the concourse, they’ll be on the big screen and their fans can cheer them on from the stands. Sure to be a fun and memorable finish line memory.
Prices include race fees, tri blend event shirt, medal, drinks, food and all race amenities. Additionally, all runners will receive their online race photos FREE (Spring & Fall Races). This is an amenity for all runners in the Prairie Fire Race Series.
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A Tour of Wichita
Wichita may the most populous city in Kansas, but it still felt like a small town to me. The marathon course goes through downtown and a wide variety of residential … MORE
Wichita may the most populous city in Kansas, but it still felt like a small town to me. The marathon course goes through downtown and a wide variety of residential areas plus a short stretch on the Arkansas River Path. Spectators and volunteers were all energetic and supportive. The marathon course was new this year, so some of the later miles were quiet with almost no spectators. I’m sure this will change as residents realize the race is coming down their street. I’ve seen this happen in other races.
If you think Kansas is flat and the course is fast, you’re pretty close to the truth. There are some small, gentle hills, but a PR here is within reach. Water and Gatorade were at every hydration station and never more than two miles between stations. Volunteers were always attentive to runners. One neighborhood hosted a “run to remember” mile, so wear something blue. That’s what the photo shows.
The finish is in Riverfront Stadium, home of the Wichita Wind Surge, the AA affiliate of the Minnesota Twins. It’s a beautiful stadium and it also provides plenty of places to sit. The best place is in the concession area behind the outfield scoreboard. The race provided pizza slices and sandwiches. Real food! You also got a variety of drink choices, both with or without alcohol. Before the race, there was free coffee or hot chocolate next to the start line.
The swag was good. The medal boldly showed a 45 for the race’s 45th running plus the race logo jackrabbit with its butt on fire. The shirt was a poly-cotton blend and should be a tech fabric since this isn’t a bargain-priced race. A nice extra was the beanie with the race logo jackrabbit.
A few things kept me from giving a five-star rating. There was a clear shortage of port-a-potties before the race and no lighting in that area. The race starts before sunrise so lighting should be a no-brainer. Some of the pavement on the course is in bad shape. Rough enough to feel like a trail race at times. The city should fix that. The new marathon course map never got added to the web site. The course map was still the old, two-loop course.
Fast, easy race
Some earlier reviews mentioned is was difficult to follow the course in the past. This year (2024) it was really well marked. There were around 400 full marathon and 1100 … MORE
Some earlier reviews mentioned is was difficult to follow the course in the past. This year (2024) it was really well marked. There were around 400 full marathon and 1100 half marathon runners.
Loads of the midwestern hospitality you would expect. No special scenary. Well organized.
Way to go, Wichita!
This was a well managed race with plenty of extra touches. They had free coffee, hot chocolate and tea at the beginning of the race. The course was well marked … MORE
This was a well managed race with plenty of extra touches. They had free coffee, hot chocolate and tea at the beginning of the race. The course was well marked and went through interesting sections of town that I want to return to visit. There were some small, undulating hills that felt good to switch up the muscles. The volunteers on the course were enthusiastic and friendly. There was a Run to Remember mile that wound through a pretty neighborhood and displayed images of fallen servicemen and women. It was followed by volunteers who were holding flags and cheering us on. The finish line went up into a baseball stadium where they had a very lively runners village with free sandwiches, pizza, and drinks.
Perfect weather!
Great race! Perfect weather. The after-party was fun and entertaining, PT station, booths to visit, free pizza, and 2 free drinks (choice of beer, hard-seltzer, Gatorade, water). The swag was … MORE
Great race! Perfect weather. The after-party was fun and entertaining, PT station, booths to visit, free pizza, and 2 free drinks (choice of beer, hard-seltzer, Gatorade, water). The swag was on point! I absolutely loved the support from the volunteers & spectators. They knew how to motivate the runners. Mile 9 was honoring the military that died in action. People were friendly. Loved the city! All around great experience! 🙂
I'm not in Boston anymore!
How did I end up going to Kansas for 31 hours to run a marathon this weekend? It's a bit of a long story but I was planning to do … MORE
How did I end up going to Kansas for 31 hours to run a marathon this weekend? It’s a bit of a long story but I was planning to do my fall marathon this weekend so I could also do virtual Boston at the same time since I want a unicorn medal but am never going to be fast enough to BQ and don’t want to raise thousands of dollars. I was originally planning to do the much closer Steamtown marathon but that got canceled and I needed a backup. I wanted to find a backup I knew would happened. I asked the Marathon Maniacs Facebook group for recs for this weekend and someone suggested this one. I was intrigued as it was a new state and happened last fall so was definitely happening this year. Since it was on a Sunday I could potentially go for just the weekend but I would need to find perfect flights. I looked for flights and found perfectly timed flights and decided to go to Kansas for 31 hours to run the “Boston” marathon. Logistics, this is a very convenient race as the packet pickup, race start and finish and race hotels are all within about a block of each other. If you want a race you don’t need a rental car this is a good one. I flew in to Wichita early Saturday and took a cab to the hotel. I stayed at the Courtyard Marriot. It was really cheap at $100/night and very nice for the price although a fire alarm falsely went off at 10:30pm when I was asleep so that was annoying. Packet pick up is the day before right by the start line. There was no expo but it was outside and efficient. There is no race day packet pickup but it is a Sunday race so that’s not as big a deal for me. However I do think they should have kept packet pickup open a little longer. It stopped at 4pm. That may be tight for some people. Packet included a personalized bib, the race shirt, athlete guide and a magazine with things to do in Wichita. The shirt is a nice blue polyblend shirt. I’d prefer a tech shirt but it is very comfortable and the design is nice. The race is in Old Town Wichita and there are enough interesting things nearby within walking distance to keep you entertained for a day or two. I also found great vegan/vegetarian food at Lotus Leaf Cafe and Sabor Latin Grill. Race day starts at 7:30am. The half and full start together. There were about 1600 runners all together but much more were doing the half than the full. The start was set up well. There were lots of porta potties and a place were you could get coffee and small snacks. There were pacers which helped runners line up by pace. I liked that they had pacers but I wish they had them for slower runners as they stopped at 2:30/5:00. The start went well and was on time. There is a different start and finish chute both with timing mats. The first part of the course is a 3.5 mile out and back along one of the main streets of Wichita that is about for a total of 7 miles. Then there is about a 6 mile loop along the river. Marathoners do this twice. Scenery for the race was okay. This was probably my least favorite scenery of any marathon I’ve done but I’ve generally chosen very scenic marathons. It’s probably the best scenery they could find in Wichita as Wichita is not exactly Los Angeles or Red Rock Canyon. The main street has some interesting buildings and lots of spectators. The loop had a cool view of the science museum, some nice views of the river and a very well done blue mile at mile 8. The second loop was the same with less spectators and they took down the blue mile. Course was easy to follow and the streets were closed or a large area was coned off so very safe. There were accurate and very big mile markers and lots of aid stations. The aid stations were approximately every 1.5 to 2 miles. All had water and gatorade. 2 had gu the first loop but there was none the second loop at least for slower marathoners. Also the volunteers just left some cups and left at one of the aid stations on the second loop but that seemed to be a one off as all the other aid stations had volunteers on the second loop and this may have been the volunteers and not the race’s fault. The course is very flat but not quite pancake flat. There are a few minor hills/inclines on the out and back. It would normally be a very easy and fast course but today was very hot. It was in the high 70s for most of the race and there was no shade. This made the race quite difficult and slow. As a result I walked the inclines and just a lot of the race but if I were doing the half and it were 10 degrees cooler there was no place on course I would have to walk. The finish line was great. An announcer called out all the runners names and there were quite a few people cheering even though I was slow. This is one of my slowest marathons but with the heat I just wanted to finish under 6 hours and I did that. At the end you are given your medal. It is a really cool medal. The more I looked at it the more I appreciate it. It is shaped like Kansas, has the distance, date, the cute running bunny logo and lots of little details specific to Wichita/Kansas. Great medal for a 50 stater. Only complaint is it is one sided. There was also water, gatorade, bananas and granola bars at the finish line. There was a nice area for post race celebration. There were multiple beers to choose from if you drink along with pizza and some samples of some meat. I passed on the meat and beer but did take some pizza. They had extras and actually offered me a full pie but I wasn’t that hungry but got several slices of cheese pizza. They also had massages and there were chairs and picnic tables set up. Overall I thought they did a really good job with this race. Production was really good for a mid size race. The worst part was the weather which was out of the race director’s control. I did think the scenery got a little boring especially since it’s a double loop race and the energy in the first loop was definitely better than the second but that’s true of most marathons. This definitely seems to be a good option for Kansas especially with the medal. However if it wasn’t for the fact I needed a full marathon this weekend for virtual Boston this would be a race where I would say to just do the half if you are like me and doing a mix of halfs and fulls to get your 50 states. I’m still very glad I did the marathon this weekend to get a new state and my unicorn medal along with my cool Kansas medal.
solid production during COVID
Overall a nicely ran race during a pandemic... a good solid alternative to Kansas city Marathon being canceled... Social media and email communication before the race was excellent. Course was … MORE
Overall a nicely ran race during a pandemic… a good solid alternative to Kansas city Marathon being canceled…
Social media and email communication before the race was excellent. Course was pretty flat but the full was 2 loops…which included running by the same areas just on the other side of the road during each loop…but you did get to run through some neat parts of Wichita. trickle start with masks seemed to work but there was still a gaggle at the start…aid stations were limited to water/Gatorade…no gel(not sure why)….crowd support was better than anticipated… course was well marked and I found mile 8 in support of the fallen military inspiring and emotional…The weather was not ideal for the beginning of October…very windy and it warmed up quick so my time wasn’t ideal…a lot of hotels and restaurants near the start…though some of the areas near there were run down to include shattered windows that my 2 year old almost got into
Warm day in the old town.
No expo due to Covid19, Start was planned as a trickle start however everyone was standing on top of one another. The first half was fast for me but of … MORE
No expo due to Covid19, Start was planned as a trickle start however everyone was standing on top of one another. The first half was fast for me but of course it was hot on the second… my fault back of the pack runner. But I pushed myself and finished. If it had been cooler I would have done better. The race is well arranged for spectators not so much for runners. When running down the main street (Douglas) runners are in the middle of two lanes of traffic very well marked. But not so good if you are looking for shade from the sun. So I liked the new start venue however there weren’t as many neighborhood streets once again no shelter from the sun.
running on coffee & covid anarchy
the best sign on the course "RUNNING ON COFFEE & COVID ANARCHY" i think the race organizers did an excellent job in this covid environment. packet pick up was outside, … MORE
the best sign on the course “RUNNING ON COFFEE & COVID ANARCHY”
i think the race organizers did an excellent job in this covid environment.
packet pick up was outside, no expo, you got the medal at the packet pick up to reduce congestion at finish line. Volunteers at water stations were less than normal. Course was different than previous years to make it a 2 loop for the full. Pretty course – through some nice neighborhoods and then by the river front.
They had a blue mile to honor fallen and missing military. Was very emotional.
Logistics –
stayed at the Courtyard by Marriott Old Town which was 2 blocks from start and finish. Excellent meals at
Sabor Latin Bar & Grill – simply outstanding pre race dinner – lots of vegeteraian options,
Dempseys Burger – post race burgers (yummy portabello mushroom burger option)
Pumphouse – saturday lunch option
We also spendt a couple of hours at the Sedgwick County Historical Museum – very informative about the settling in the midwest, and the start of Wichita.
Overall a great weekend.
A warm race
It was windy 25-35 mph and sunny 65F start & 85 finish. I did horrible w heat so it wasn't a pleasant run for me, but nice view, nice city … MORE
It was windy 25-35 mph and sunny 65F start & 85 finish. I did horrible w heat so it wasn’t a pleasant run for me, but nice view, nice city and people, awesome race crews.
Fast Course!!
This course is very flat and fast, two-loop with a long out and back through town. Once the marathon starts the second lap, the course is pretty devoid of spectators...and … MORE
This course is very flat and fast, two-loop with a long out and back through town. Once the marathon starts the second lap, the course is pretty devoid of spectators…and other participants. The race itself was well run. They moved the start to an area downtown that was a little hard to get to due to road closures and construction, but the nightclub at the start line was warm and had indoor bathrooms.
This race about killed me this year.
I had run the half my first year and enjoyed it. I had even gotten a PR on the flat half course. The Marathon expo is huge and the race … MORE
I had run the half my first year and enjoyed it. I had even gotten a PR on the flat half course. The Marathon expo is huge and the race flat and well organized. Why then was it such a killer? We had just started when it started the rain. The temperature dropped from 40 to 33 for the finish. There were only 26 miles of pouring freezing rain. I feel sorry for the RD, he can’t control the weather. No one dared to stay for the after party this year. When getting my medal they asked me if I wanted to step into the medical tent to warm up. I was shaking and my teeth were clattering. So happy the hotel was just steps away. Since I had done it once and enjoyed I may go back. I would tell you it was my second worst experience in running.
My first half
The water stations were sparse but great race, good support and since I was super slow and last I had my own golf cart for support. I choose this race … MORE
The water stations were sparse but great race, good support and since I was super slow and last I had my own golf cart for support. I choose this race as my first half because it is a fast and flat course. I felt it was flat.
Back to Back—May and October
This was the second race of the “back to back”. The host hotel was literally at the start/finish line. The hotel staff was amazing. The course itself wasn’t anything memorable, … MORE
This was the second race of the “back to back”. The host hotel was literally at the start/finish line. The hotel staff was amazing. The course itself wasn’t anything memorable, so nothing horrible or amazing. It was a different course from the May race. The post race food and crowd is amazing! Definitely a great race! I would recommend this one to anyone! Especially if you are close to Wichita, this is great because their “back to back” is a May and October race.
Flat & Fast. Great Little Race
Great course. Go for a PR! Flat and fast. Great for new runners who don't want a difficult challenge, beyond the distance. I loved the race logo and finisher medal, … MORE
Great course. Go for a PR! Flat and fast. Great for new runners who don’t want a difficult challenge, beyond the distance. I loved the race logo and finisher medal, one reason I chose to run it. Smaller size race, but well run and made to feel like a bigger event. And a bonus of a smaller race is: 1st place age group award!