Mount Lemmon Marathon: 26.2-mile uphill race has changes in Year 2

That's why it's a bit surprising that there have been some changes for year No. 2.

Over the summer, race creator Laszlo Otvos approached Ott Wischki, a 39-year old personal trainer who lives in Tucson, with an offer to sell the marathon.

Wischki agreed to take it over and subsequently started a new company called Mount Lemmon LLC.

However, as part of the deal, Wischki says Otvos got to pocket the sponsor and entry fee money he'd received throughout the year. That left Wischki low on funds to use for promoting the race and thus, the second edition of the marathon will be somewhat smaller.

Instead of the 785 participants from last year, Wischki says to expect a number closer to 500 for Sunday's race.

In addition, the course has changed. The starting line, which used to be situated just after Catalina Highway's first big turn, has been pushed back to mile marker zero (closer to Snyder Road). Also, the final stretch of the race will no longer take a right turn up into Ski Valley before finishing at the entrance to Summerhaven, but instead will run through the town to the finish.

Wischki talked to the Star about some of the recent changes and his plans for the future:

How difficult has it been to get the race organized in such a small time frame?

A: "Logistically, the problem-solving stuff is not that hard to take care of. Financially, yeah, it obviously runs into shortfalls. There's not enough registration at this point to make up the difference (of the money that was lost in the takeover), but we're making it happen. Five hundred entrants is lower than last year, and I think it's because of the lack of promotion. I've been running it for a little over three months now, but up until that point, there was turmoil with the whole changeover."

Talk about the changes to the finish of the race.

A: "They'll turn (left) into the neighborhood on Loma Linda Road (at mile point 23.7), and they'll come out of the neighborhood south of town and then run through Summerhaven. They'll be running uphill to the finish. We're mean like that. But it's an uphill race, so it may as well finish uphill, right? Another thing that's kind of cool about running through town is that it's a scenic stretch with the trees and the shops and the restaurants so it will give everyone a chance to see all that Summerhaven has to offer."

What are your hopes for the future of the marathon?

A: "I am looking to turn this into a Tucson icon; just an iconic kind of event. My overall goal is to have the Mount Lemmon Marathon known in the runners' community as a household word as a must-do event. Looking forward to the future, I plan on doing everything in my power to over-promote it and make it grow. I think the capacity we can handle on the mountain is about 2,000 runners, so my goal is to reach that capacity annually."

Up next

• What: Mount Lemmon Marathon and Half Marathon

• When: Both races start at 6 a.m. Sunday

• Website: For spectator info, go to mountlemmonmarathon.com