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  • Writer's pictureLibby Jones, Libby@TheActiveJoe.com

Collin County’s First...and Second...Marathon, and More, at the New Years Double

Updated: Jul 29, 2020

Contact: Libby Jones, info@newyearsdouble.com

Allen, Texas - January 1, 2011 was a great moment for running in North Texas. Allen played host to its first half marathon, one of only two in Collin County at the time, with the inaugural New Year’s Day Half Marathon. Planned and executed around the birth of Founder and Race Director Libby Jones’ baby on December 1st, 2010, the race was announced only 4 months out with a field capped at 200. Through word of mouth only, the race sold out 45 days before the event.


For the upcoming New Year’s, we’re excited to announce a huge expansion for the event. We present the New Years Double – a full weekend of run events! Two days of races, from 5K up to a marathon, at beautiful Celebration Park in Allen. This event will be Collin County’s very first marathon! And by offering back-to-back days of marathons and half marathons, this puts Allen on the national radar for the distance running community. For the second year, the 501(c)(3) Allen Parks Foundation is the primary beneficiary of the event.


The New Years Double’s two days of events can be run separately, although it is anticipated many will want to both end the year and start the new year the active way. There is the Inaugural New Year’s Eve Marathon, Half Marathon, Half Marathon Relay, and 5K on 12/31/11, and the New Year’s Day Marathon, Half Marathon, Half Marathon Relay, and 5K on 1/1/12.


Finishers in all events, even the 5K, each day will receive a finisher medal. For those completing events both mornings, there will be a much larger special Challenge Plate, in which the two individual days’ medals will actually be inserted.


The race website and registration officially launches September 1st. The target is 1,000 participants in each day’s events. Through a buzz campaign on Facebook and a “secret” registration just for those who followed us on Facebook in August, we have filled over 230 slots out of the 2,000 total before even officially opening registration!


Allen Parks Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with the primary purposes to assist the City of Allen and other local organizations in enhancing the overall park system through expanded development of parks and recreational programming and to accept land, bequests, rights of way, and other donations.


Libby Jones has been an active member of the leadership of the Dallas-Fort Worth running community for several years. Her dedication to running outreach while President of the Dallas Running Club for two years (2007-2008) earned Jones a national award as the 2008 RRCA Scott Hamilton Outstanding Club President of the Year by the Road Runners Club of America, a national non-profit running organization with over 1,000 running clubs and events in the United States. Jones is a successful current and past director of large road-running races, including the 4,500-person Dallas Running Club Half Marathon in Dallas and the 1,700-person women-focused Heels and Hills Half Marathon.


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