Shamrock Marathon

In 1973, the Shamrock Marathon was born. Race Directors, and founders, Jerry and Lori Bocrie initiated the first annual event which included a marathon, one mile, two mile, and six mile race. The event began with 59 participants and concluded with 38 finishers. In 1982, the 10th annual Shamrock Marathon was named the Largest Sporting Event in Virginia. The event continued to grow and in 1984 the first annual post race party was held. During the 1990's, the Shamrock Marathon really began to take off! In 1990, Runner's World ranked the Shamrock Marathon as the "Cream of the Crop, the Race to Run on St. Patrick's Day weekend." Then, in 1992 Shamrock was recognized again by Runner's World as one of the Top 20 Marathon's in the Country. Shamrock received its first segment on ESPN's Running and Racing and many world records were threatened during the mid 90's. In 1997, the Shamrock 8k made Runner's World's Top of the Line list on their "Exclusive Listing of 101 Great Road Races." Finally, in the year 2000, online registration was available! In 2003, Jerry and Amy Frostick took over the Shamrock Sportsfest in its 31st year. They were given the race with close to 5, 000 participants and three races. Since then, the Frostick's have grown the Shamrock Sportsfest weekend to a world class event that includes five races and over 18, 000 people! Since they have taken over, Shamrock has won "Best Schwag Perks and Prizes Worth Bonking For" in Runner's World during 2006. In addition, three World Records have been set under their reign as race directors as well as 32 national records and three participants have qualified for the Olympic Trials. All of us at Shamrock look forward to watching the races grow throughout the upcoming years and to continuing a series of World Class races with a Hometown Feel!