LOWELL — Runners from 31 states and four Canadian provinces will test their fitness level.
And while every town in the Merrimack Valley is represented, the Ashworth Awards Baystate Marathon and Half Marathon will also sport an international flavor Sunday — runners from Spain, Costa Rica, Hong Kong, Scotland, Ecuador, South Africa, The Netherlands, and Trinidad and Tobago will also toe the starting line.
The marathon and half marathon will begin at 8 a.m. just down the street from the Tsongas Center. Runners will finish in front of the Tsongas, the home of the UMass Lowell hockey and basketball teams.
As of Tuesday, an estimated 3,000 runners had registered, 1,800 for the marathon and 1,200 for the half marathon.
Race director Dave Connally said numbers for the half marathon are down a bit from previous years because there are four other races of that distance in New England on Sunday.
But Connally is thrilled with the quality of the field, especially in the marathon.
“It’s pretty exciting. We have some of the best runners in New England coming this year because we are the USATF-New England marathon championship,” he said.
Here’s a look at some of the athletes expected to compete Sunday:
* Ruben Sanca. The former UMass Lowell standout should be one of the top male marathon finishers. He represented the Cape Verdean 5,000-meter team at the 2012 Olympics. (For more on Sanca see Saturday’s Sun).
* Hayley Sutter. The woman listed a projected time of 2 hours, 42 minutes for the marathon as her goal, which would qualify her for the U.S. Olympic Trials. She ran for Nebraska Wesleyan. The course and event record of 2:45:36 was set by Katie Misuraca of Gloucester in 2014.
* Dave Dunham. The Billerica native is still going strong and determined to qualify for the Boston Marathon. A New England legend, the Bradford resident set the men’s event record of 2:21:36 in 1998. (The course has changed four times. When Dunham won in 1998, the race began and finished at Greater Lowell Tech High School in Tyngsboro).
* Tim Morris. The pushrim athlete will be gunning for a 2:15 time in the marathon. The New Hampshire resident reportedly is moving to Lowell next week.
* John Young. The Salem resident is the first man with dwarfism to complete an Ironman and is slated to run the half marathon. He has been featured in Runner’s World and regularly runs the Boston Marathon.
Baystate is one of the most popular races in the country for runners who want to qualify for the Boston Marathon in large part because of how flat the terrain is.
Runners who compete in the half marathon run along the Merrimack River for much of the race and stay in Lowell the entire time. Marathoners follow the Merrimack for long stretches as well and also run in Chelmsford and Tyngsboro.
Expo in Chelmsford
The Baystate Marathon Expo will be held at the Radisson Hotel & Suites in Chelmsford on Friday (6-9 p.m.) and Saturday (10 a.m. to 6 p.m.).
On Saturday, at 1:30 p.m., Becca Pizzi is the featured speaker at the Expo. She is the first American woman to complete seven marathons on seven continents in seven days.
As usual, traffic will be heavy anywhere near the Merrimack River on race day. The Rourke Bridge will be the only bridge closed Sunday morning, but motorists can expect heavy delays near the other bridges which span the river.
Follow Barry Scanlon on Twitter @BarryScanlonSun
