Annual Burlington marathon moved from May to October

BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) - The annual marathon in Burlington has been rescheduled from May to October because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Organizers of the People’s United Bank Vermont City Marathon & Relay announced the move on Wednesday.

“We would like this race to be a celebration of our freedom to run and share that joy with our entire community,” Peter Delaney, executive director of RunVermont, said in a written statement. “We’re optimistic that we’ll be in better shape to make that vision a reality with a few additional months to let COVID conditions settle out.”

Last year, the marathon was rescheduled and then canceled.

Many of the runners who had signed up deferred their race registrations to this year so RunVermont will not immediately accept new registrations for the Oct. 24 race, organizers said. The 2020 registrants will be contacted with instructions to reregister for this year’s marathon and relay or to defer until spring of next year, they said.