This weekend you're invited to 'Line the Drive' to cheer on the 26,000 runners from 43 countries, including 4,000 Canadians, competing in this year's Detroit Free Press Marathon.
The initiative is put together in partnership between Tourism Windsor Essex Pelee Island (TWEPI), the Downtown Windsor BIA, and the City of Windsor.
On Sunday Oct. 19, five vibrant cheer zones will be set up along Riverside Drive and around Windsor City Hall Square.
TWEPI's vice president of marketing and communications, Jason Toner, said they want people to help amplify the cheers zones with posters and flags while showing the runners just how welcoming Windsor-Essex is.
"We're a big stretch in this marathon, and a lot of reasons that people run the Detroit Free Press Marathon is the fact that it's international. You get to run over the bridge, and back through the tunnel. It's really a great opportunity for us to showcase the best of Windsor to them," Toner said.
The five 'Line the Drive' cheer zones include:
- Straith Park Cheer Zone located on Riverside Drive between Josephine Ave. and Campbell Ave.
- Art Windsor-Essex Canadian Cheer Zone located in the Vision Corridor on Riverside Drive between Bruce Ave. and Church St.
- Keg Riverside Canadian Cheer Zone located on Riverside Drive between Ferry St. and Ouellette Ave. at The KEG Steakhouse + Bar - Windsor
- City Hall Square Cheer Zone located along Park St. E. and City Hall Square S. at Windsor City Hall
- Windsor-Detroit Tunnel Cheer Zone located on Park Street E. across from the entrance to the Windsor-Detroit Tunnel Customs Exit
Toner said those zones will be hot spots with all the action.
"Some of them have DJs and live music going on too to make it really exciting and vibrant. It's starts at 7 a.m., always encourage to show up early, you'll get those early marathons finishers running through at 7:20, 7:30 a.m., so the excitement starts early," he said.
Toner said TWEPI has received positive feedback from their cheer zone initiative.
"We were on a call a week ago with the Free Press Marathon and they did say that the fan zones that we put on are some of the best of the whole course, so it really shows the testament of how proud we are that we're part of this truly international marathon," said Toner.
Art Windsor-Essex will host a colourful marathon posters sessions on Saturday Oct. 18 from 1:00 to 4 p.m., supplying everything you need to create bold, colourful, and motivating messages to cheer on family and friends during 'Line The Drive'.
A full map of cheer zones for Line The Drive and other event details can be found here.