Vegas Ups the Ante: What's a Marathon Without Elvis?

LAS VEGAS — Marathon isn't the first word that comes to mind in Las Vegas, unless it's about a poker game or a night of partying. But organizers of the New Las Vegas Marathon are betting they're onto something big with more than 11,000 runners signed up to start before dawn Sunday beneath flashy neon, glittering fireworks and the strains of Elvis Presley's "Viva Las Vegas."

Boxing legend Muhammad Ali is scheduled to join local dignitaries at the starting line on the Las Vegas Strip. And organizers promise at least 40 running Elvises, up to 26 couples married at a run-through wedding chapel, dozens of showgirls, Santa Claus and 16 venues with live entertainment to help keep runners' legs moving for 26.2 fast, flat miles back to the casinos.

Most will finish with aches, blisters and a T-shirt instead of big cash prizes, though there's a possibility that some runner will hit the $1.25 million jackpot by setting a world record.

"This is not the old Las Vegas Marathon," said Jon "Al" Boka, who directed an underfunded and under-promoted race from 1983 until selling the rights to promoter Devine Racing, a Chicago company that also owns the Los Angeles and Salt Lake City marathons.

The 1,805 entrants who finished the 39th race last January faced stiff, chilly headwinds running from a desert hamlet 26 miles south of the city to finish unheralded at a county park well off the Strip. About 2,659 more completed a 13.1-mile half-marathon.

"There was no place to hide," recalled Larry Barthlow, a Devine official who endured last year's course before spending his summer recruiting elite runners for this weekend's race. "It was the desert. The tallest thing out there was maybe the portajohns."

Everyone knew if Las Vegas hoped to join the marathon big leagues -- to attract competitors who might otherwise go to Atlanta, Honolulu, Dallas, San Diego or Orlando, Fla. -- it had to feature the one thing no place else could offer.

"You get to run on the Las Vegas Strip!" said Andrew DiMeglio, 41, of Chicago, who will make Las Vegas his third marathon. "They're shutting down the Strip. That's cool."

DiMeglio, a television network producer, picks his marathons for physical challenge and vacation potential. He and his nonrunning brother will spend time after the race at casino sports books where he might have a better chance of winning some money.