New Festival Awaiting Finishers

After pounding the pavement for 26.2 miles and crossing the finish line at the Iwo Jima Memorial today, Marine Corps Marathon runners will be ushered to a new "finish festival" in Rosslyn featuring food and entertainment.

Race director Rick Nealis said organizers had to switch venues after the Iwo Jima Memorial (officially the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial) underwent a multimillion-dollar renovation in 2005 and National Park Service would not grant them permission to use the grounds for the finish celebration.

The renovation included installation of sprinklers and an irrigation system that the Park Service was concerned would be ruined by more than 100,000 people "trampling and walking all over the grounds," Nealis said.

Nealis approached Arlington County officials last November, and they granted him a four-block stretch of the city along Lynn Street over Route 50 to hold the festival. The event is close to the Rosslyn Metro station and buses.

"The more we thought about it and talked about it, the more sense it made," Nealis said. "This is how Boston finishes. That's the theme we're going for."

The festival will have a beer garden, a restaurant row with Arlington County restaurants offering samples and a concert featuring former National Guardsman Luke Stricklin.

"It's just convenient. This is a big stretch of land that can handle all the activity and a large capacity of people, and it allows fewer restrictions than the memorial," said Chris Zimmerman, chairman of the Arlington County Board.

Runners also will be allowed to keep their time chips, which should cut down on congestion and medical problems at the end of the race. Nealis said finishers will walk to the festival instead of sitting down and bending over to remove their shoes. "Hopefully, we will see less stretchers and people passing out at the finish line, since we are forcing them to keep moving," Nealis said.