BMW Dallas Marathon Kicked Off its 50th Anniversary Festival Weekend at Scottish Rite for Children

December 10, 2021

The 2021 BMW Dallas Marathon Festival weekend experience kicked off this morning, bringing together representatives from Scottish Rite for Children, the race’s primary beneficiary, and title sponsor BMW of North America.

DALLAS (Dec. 10, 2021) /ENDURANCE SPORTSWIRE/ – The 2021 BMW Dallas Marathon Festival weekend experience kicked off this morning, bringing together representatives from Scottish Rite for Children, the race’s primary beneficiary, and title sponsor BMW of North America.

This year also marks Scottish Rite for Children’s centennial anniversary and 20^th year of partnering with the marathon. Paul Lambert, president of runDallas, said the partnership has been an important one.

“We are fortunate to be able to use our position in the Dallas community alongside BMW to support a world-class medical facility like Scottish Rite for Children that provides such awe-inspiring services and programs to children across the region,” Lambert said. “We are continuously impressed with the impact they make on the lives of their patients and families and are proud to be a part of that each year.”

Since the festival named Scottish Rite for Children as their primary beneficiary in 1997, it has raised more than $4 million for the world-renowned institution. During the most recent race weekend in 2019, the festival presented the organization with a check for $80,000.

“We have had the privilege of being involved with the marathon for the last 24 years,” said Bob Walker, President and CEO of Scottish Rite For Children. Through the marathon, the amount of money that has been raised is remarkable. The marathon board has just done a fantastic job. This will be a great 50^th year and it’s because of the hard work they have put in.”

Walker recognized this year’s Patient Champions, 12-year-old Cedric and 11-year-old Shaleigh, and two Junior Race Directors, 16-year-old Olivia and 13-year-old Jayden, for their courage and resilience. Olivia, Jayden and other patient champions will be cheering on participants throughout the weekend.

“I just want to say good luck to the runners and I’m super excited to be a Junior Race Director this year,” Jayden said. “Thank you for supporting my hospital.”

In a telling display of partnership and for the third year in a row, BMW has wrapped vehicles with artwork from patients at Scottish Rite for Children. The artwork is a product of Scottish Rite’s one-of-a-kind art therapy program offered to its patients and their families funded in part by the BMW Dallas Marathon Festival. In addition, one lucky race participant will win a special edition 2021 BMW 4 Series Coupe.

Curtis Snyder, BMW Regional Marketing Manager for the Southeast Region, shared the exciting news that the pace cars for Sunday’s half and full marathons be the all new BMW iX and the all new BMW I4, which are zero-emission vehicles.

“We’ve been waiting on the 50^th anniversary marathon for a good while now so we’re very excited to be a huge part of that,” Snyder said. “BMW has a pretty high bar to match to be able to match the performance of the athletes who are going to be running this weekend. That set a pretty high expectation and standard for us, so we knew we had to bring something really exciting to Dallas for this marathon.”

Weekend Events

The weekend-long festival will begin at 7 p.m., Dec. 10, with the second annual Friday Night Lights Mile. This is a two-lap Grand Prix-style race around Dallas City Hall Plaza that will include multiple heats for runners of all abilities. Things begin heating up on Saturday, Dec. 11, at 8:30 a.m. with the 10K Race, followed by the 5K Race at 8:45 a.m. By 10 a.m., it’s the kid’s turn to start racing, starting with the 100M Dash. At 10:30 a.m. the Oncor Kids’ Race will begin. Both kid’s events are free of charge.

Sunday morning at 8:30 a.m., the Full, Half and Ultra Marathons kick off. These races begin in downtown Dallas and showcase some of the most notable areas of the city. Along the course, there will be exciting cheer stations and on-course entertainment before the finish line at Dallas City Hall Plaza. In addition to these races, the two-person and five-person relays will also be held on Sunday. These team-building races will be held in both a half-marathon and marathon distance. Spectators can attend all events for free.

Race participants can expect to find delicious drinks and refreshments available. Food options will include Cici’s Pizza, Tacodeli breakfast tacos, Beyond Meat breakfast sandwiches, bellagreen white chocolate pudding, Original ChopShop Cookies, UCAN Energy Bars, GoGo squeeZ fruit pouches, bananas and candy canes. Beverage options will include Sam Adams Beer and Truly Hard Seltzer, Tetra Pak Water, Gatorade, Southwest Dairy Farmers Chocolate Milk and Chike Protein Iced Coffee. The Festival Weekend will also be in full holiday mode, overflowing with festive spirit and fun activities for the entire family to participate in.

For more information about the BMW Dallas Marathon Festival’s 50^th anniversary running, please visit rundallas.com. For unique story opportunities throughout the weekend, please contact Silver Hogue at Silver.Hogue@hck2.com or at (214) 697-3113.

About Dallas Marathon

The Dallas Marathon is a nonprofit organization with a focus on promoting health and physical fitness through running events and related activities. Dating back to 1971, the organization hosts year-round events culminating with Dallas’ largest and Texas’ longest running marathon: the BMW Dallas Marathon. Now in its 50th running, the marquee event, with 10 event distances to select from throughout the weekend of events, attracts runners from across the globe and tens of thousands of spectators to Dallas’ largest single-day sporting event. The BMW Dallas Marathon course highlights iconic Dallas landmarks and is recognized as the official marathon of the City of Dallas. Since naming a primary beneficiary in 1997, the Dallas Marathon has donated more than $4million to Scottish Rite for Children. For more information, visit bmwdallasmarathon.com.  

About Scottish Rite for Children

Scottish Rite for Children is one of the nation’s leading pediatric orthopedic centers. A wide range of orthopedic conditions are treated, including sports injuries and fractures, as well as certain arthritic, neurological and learning disorders, such as dyslexia. Patients receive treatment regardless of the family’s ability to pay. For more information about services available at the Dallas or Frisco campus, volunteering or donating, visit scottishriteforchildren.org.

BMW Group In America

BMW of North America, LLC has been present in the United States since 1975. Rolls-Royce Motor Cars NA, LLC began distributing vehicles in 2003. The BMW Group in the United States has grown to include marketing, sales, and financial service organizations for the BMW brand of motor vehicles, including motorcycles, the MINI brand, and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars; Designworks, a strategic design consultancy based in California; technology offices in Silicon Valley and Chicago, and various other operations throughout the country. BMW Manufacturing Co., LLC in South Carolina is the BMW Group global center of competence for BMW X models and manufactures the X3, X4, X5, X6 and X7 Sports Activity Vehicles. The BMW Group sales organization is represented in the U.S. through networks of 348 BMW passenger car and BMW Sports Activity Vehicle centers, 147 BMW motorcycle retailers, 121 MINI passenger car dealers, and 38 Rolls-Royce Motor Car dealers. BMW (US) Holding Corp., the BMW Group’s sales headquarters for North America, is located in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey.

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