Road construction workers aren’t the most popular folks in town, especially when they’re tearing up more than 40 blocks of a city’s main street, as is happening now with the East Colfax Bus Rapid Transit project.
But when the Colfax Marathon and associated races kick off Sunday morning, 28 workers with the Colfax BRT project will be running in the marathon relay event, part of which shoots right through the construction zone. And that includes the big boss.
“We really care about Colfax, and we really care about community,” said project manager Jonathan Stewart, who will be running the 6-mile anchor leg on one of seven four-member marathon relay teams composed of BRT project workers. “We are your friends and neighbors. We care about this city as much, if not more than, everybody else. A lot of us live along the corridor.”
Construction that has Colfax restricted to one lane each way is happening from the Capitol at Lincoln Street past Colorado Boulevard, a distance of more than 2 miles. Of that, 1.5 miles of the marathon, half marathon and marathon relay course will pass through the construction zone from the Esplanade near East High School to Lincoln.
About 120 construction workers have been assigned to the project, which is being managed by the city in partnership with RTD and CDOT. They know the project has inconvenienced residents and businesses — and in some cases brought them near to closure.
“Businesses get frustrated with us, as if we are the ones who decided to build this,” Stewart said. “This was a citizens’ initiative. This project was voted (on). It’s not like the construction worker who is pouring concrete has the ability to halt the project. These people they’re getting frustrated with are their friends, their neighbors, their customers who live in this community.”
There’s also construction happening on West Colfax in Denver and in Lakewood that will impact the race there. And then there are the closures that the race itself will cause. Colfax will be closed to motorists during the race on Sunday, and there will be rolling closures on other streets between 5 a.m. and 1 p.m., including southbound Colorado Boulevard between 17th and 29th avenues. RTD bus and train routes also will experience detours. Get information at rtd-denver.com.
To race organizers, it wouldn’t be the Colfax Marathon without its namesake.
“Every single one of these construction entities has been terrific,” said Colfax Marathon chief executive Andrea Dowdy. “We’ve walked the course with all of them, and they’re wonderful. Our runners will be able to run right down the street like they always do — no change to our course.”
Construction workers will even have cheering sections.
“There are other construction groups across the city who have decided to become cheer groups,” Dowdy said, “placing themselves on Colfax in their construction areas to cheer on the runners.”
Training for Sunday has reignited Stewart’s love for running. He was a runner until a decade ago, when foot and leg injuries prompted a turn to cycling.
“I ended up hanging up the running shoes, but I’m finding myself really enjoying running again,” Stewart said. “I’ve really gotten back into it. It’s pretty cool.”
The marathon, half marathon and marathon relay start and finish in City Park. The Urban 10-miler finishes there but starts in Lakewood. The marathon and marathon relay will start at 6 a.m., and the half marathon will go off at 6:30 a.m. Rolling road closures will be in effect.
The half marathon and marathon relay are sold out, but the 10-miler and marathon are still open for registration, as is Saturday’s 5K. The full suite of races attracted 21,000 in 2023 but jumped to 25,000 last year. Dowdy said this year’s number is tracking to be about 25,000 again.
New this year is a $22,560 prize-money purse for Coloradans in the half marathon, called the Colorado Half Marathon Showdown, with the men’s and women’s winners to be awarded $5,280 each. Runners satisfy the eligibility criteria for prize money if they have been current Colorado residents for six months, if they are current USATF Colorado members, if they were raised in Colorado or are current Colorado collegiate athletes.
Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, The Adventurist, to get outdoors news sent straight to your inbox.
Originally Published: May 15, 2025 at 6:00 AM MDT
