Masking required for Twin Cities Marathon Weekend except while running

With Twin Cities Marathon Weekend just a week away, officials have announced health and safety protocols for this year’s event.

Twin Cities in Motion said masking will be required for all indoor spaces and select higher-density outdoor settings during the weekend, which runs Oct. 1-3. Participants, event officials and volunteers will need to wear masks at the following locations:

• At the Health & Fitness Expo at St. Paul RiverCentre on Oct. 1-2.
• At other indoor facilities associated with the event, including enclosed tents.
• On race transportation vehicles, including buses to the start line.
• In outdoor start area corrals where runners gather before races.
• In outdoor finish line walk-off area.
• In the registration and packet pick-up area for TC Family Events, TC 10K and TC 5K.

However, masks won’t be required for runners during races.

The organization announced in March that the event would be held with reduced field sizes across its races and with extra space for social distancing.

"We take health seriously, we take safety seriously and we take Covid-19 and the Delta variant seriously," Twin Cities In Motion Executive Director Virginia Brophy Achman said. "Our staff and medical team have been preparing for this event since the pandemic emerged. We’ve worked with the Minnesota Department of Health, an internationally respected crowd scientist and with local and national industry peers, including the Minnesota Running Industry Covid Task Force, to design the right safety measures for our event. We wanted to do everything we could to help our participants feel confident when they are at our event."

"We are asking participants, volunteers, and staff at the event to be considerate of others’ comfort level and maintain distance from people outside their household," Achman added. "The running community has always shown fellowship and respect for one another, so we’re confident that spirit will prevail during this unique edition of the event."

The full COVID-19 policy for the weekend can be found here.

The marathon course runs from downtown Minneapolis to the State Capitol grounds in St. Paul.