Community Clean-Ups, Parties Aim To Put City's Best Foot Forward For Marathon
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Runners in the Dick's Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon on May 4 will pass through 13 Pittsburgh neighborhoods.
The marathon is a ritual of spring, and the neighborhoods are doing some spring cleaning to prepare.
Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald and Mayor Bill Peduto met with race officials to announce the "Run Home to Pittsburgh" campaign.
Marathon CEO Patrice Matamoros led the news conference in a vacant lot in Homewood, where volunteers removed several bags of trash.
Jerome Jackson, of Operation Better Block, says Homewood's contribution is significant.
"Our location has been in the top three places that the runners voted as the best place to run through," he recalls. "And last year, we were voted number one. So, we really come out to support the runners."
Recovered objects will be recycled as art.
"People from Homewood are going to put it together," Matamoros says. "They're going to have a clean-up day. They're going to use different articles and different materials that they get on clean-up day, and they're going to build that installation on April 26."
When 30,000 weary runners pound their way on the 18th mile of the marathon on Frankstown Road, hopefully they'll get a little bit of a smile when they glance over at the vacant lot and see an eight-by-12 foot collage composed of, well, junk.
Found objects will be used to create images of three runners, truly a marathon effort.
For more information on this year's Pittsburgh Marathon, visit the links below:
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