wineturtle wrote:
You all know calling short road races mini marathons goes back to the first all woman's road race in NYC sponsored by S.C. Johnsoni and Sons in 1972 don't you? The six mile (one lap of Central Park) was called the Crazylegs Mini to promote a new pink shaving gel for women (this was back when only women shaved their legs) was put on by NYRRClub.
So blame Fred Lebow. S.C. Johnson &Sons wanted to sponsor a marathon that was only for women and Lebow knew there just were not enough woman marathoners to attract a field that would make the advertising viable for Johnson so he suggested a scaled down race, a mini version, if you will, of the marathon.
Mini and marathon got married by some PR agency and big city event road racing took off. Advertisers saw a great way to mass market their brands . . . and thus began the phenomenon called hobbyjogging.
Finisher medals, roses for the ladies, 6 hour marathon completion windows, swagbag marketing gifts, encouragement to come out and make it a fun day even if you never ran a step to give sponsors a day long event. Blame it all on Fred.