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Photo courtesy of the Community First Fox Cities Marathon

The Community First Fox Cities Marathon returns to Appleton this September for its 25th annual running. Three days of events will begin on Sept. 18 and conclude on Sept. 20. There will be events for all ages and experience levels, which will be held prior to the actual race.

Debbie Jansen, event manager for the Fox Cities Marathon, says the big focus this year is the 25th anniversary of the event.

“We’ve got some fun contests and fun things on race weekend, theming everything around the 25th year,” Jansen says.

Kids’ events will lead off the weekend. Fun runs will go throughout the day and into the evening. There also will be a Health & Wellness Expo and a Q&A session for first-time marathoners.

This year’s marathon is set to kick off on Sept. 18 at 4 p.m. A full day of events will follow on Sept. 19, with the full and half marathons beginning on Sunday morning.

Along with the celebration of 25 years running strong, the marathon will feature a slightly altered course this September. “The course begins and ends in the same location, starting at University of Wisconsin-Fox Valley and ending at Riverside Park in Neenah. The course winds through five communities in the Fox Cities,” Jansen says. She says the goal of the course is to “showcase some things that make the Fox Cities special.” In addition, this year’s course will look to incorporate additional parks, trails and water, taking care to utilize more asphalt rather than concrete, keeping the runners’ well-being in mind.

These tweaks to the course, Jansen says, look to “add variety” for the marathon’s anniversary.

For more information, visit foxcitiesmarathon.org.