Andrew Bowman came to Pittsburgh on Thursday ready to enjoy its various attractions and to prepare to challenge for another victory on the city’s streets and bridges.
Last year, the 31-year-old Michigan resident covered the Dick’s Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon 26.2-mile course in a time of 2 hours, 15.52 minutes.
He is switching gears this year to the UPMC Health Plan Pittsburgh half marathon and will join a competitive field at 7 a.m. Sunday on Liberty Avenue.
“Pittsburgh in general and this race specifically is more than enough to excite me,” said Bowman who ran at last year’s U.S. Olympic Marathon trials a couple of months before coming to Pittsburgh.
“To come back and race these streets, take in the beautiful views, and interact with so many enthusiastic people, runners, spectators and those connected with making the marathon possible, I couldn’t say no. I just did a marathon a week ago, but that is not going to stop me from running here and making the most of this wonderful experience.”
Bowman competed last weekend in the full Boston Marathon, and he felt the half this Sunday would be a better current fit for his body.
“Knowing that I had that (Boston) marathon on my legs, there was no way I could turn in a respectable (full) marathon in my home away from home,” said Bowman whose wife, Sydney, won the Pittsburgh Marathon women’s title in 2018.
“I thought about how I could make this work in the best way possible. I want to make Pittsburgh a staple of my year to year. All the training for the half this week has been about getting my legs under me and getting ready to go to battle.”
With optimal weather conditions expected — temperatures in the upper 50s to the mid 60s with clouds and light rain a possibility — Bowman, one of more than 46,000 runners, walkers and cyclists ready to move throughout Saturday’s and Sunday’s race activities, hopes to come out on top in a half-marathon field that includes Kenyan Wesley Kiptoo, a staple of the Sunday marquee races the past several seasons.
Kiptoo is the reigning three-time men’s half-marathon champion. He set the course record of 1:01.21 in 2023 and will go after an unprecedented fourth consecutive win.
He recently achieved a personal best of 1:00.35 at the Houston Half Marathon.
“I am so excited to be back,” said Kiptoo, who was honored and celebrated with Bowman and several of the other elite runners Friday morning at a press conference at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center to kick off the Pittsburgh Live Well Expo presented by GNC and the marathon’s many weekend events Downtown and on the North Shore.
“This race really means a lot to me. I’ve been running here now for four years, and I am looking forward to adding another win on Sunday.”
Kiptoo said the response and support of the many thousands of spectators who line the course for all 26.2 miles and his fellow runners give the Pittsburgh Marathon a special feel each year.
That special feel is not lost on 14-year Flagstaff resident Stephanie Bruce, a three-time U.S. National champion and one of America’s fastest marathoners. She makes her return to the women’s half and will shoot for her third win in Pittsburgh.
“It is an awesome feeling to run here,” said Bruce, who has been racing in Pittsburgh since 2019.
“They keep drawing me back. I am so excited, and I have my whole family with me this weekend. Normally, it is a business trip for me, and I am in the hotel or getting in my training runs. But with the kids here, we’re trying to explore Pittsburgh. Hopefully the boys are going to catch the Pirates game. We’re close to San Diego, and my husband is a Padres fan. The kids love seeing all the bridges.”
Sunday’s marathon races begin with the hand-cycle group at 6:50 a.m. at Liberty Avenue and 10th Street followed by the elite runners and others, including those in the marathon relay, at 7.
The back-half marathon runners take off at 9 a.m.
The finish line for all of Sunday’s races is on the Boulevard of the Allies between Wood and Market streets.
American Jane Bareikis enters as the defending champion of the women’s full marathon. She claimed last year’s win in a time of 2:37.37 and pocketed the $7,000 top prize.
Featured Local Businesses
The total prize purse this weekend is $102,000.
“I am excited to be back because Pittsburgh was my first-ever marathon win,” Bareikis said.
“I have won many races before, but I came here last year wanting to test myself. I had a chance to win, and it was one of my best races. To get that flag at the finish line, it was everything for me.”
First-place finishers for the full marathon, men and women, again will receive $7,000. The overall half-marathon winners each receive $10,000.
There will be 23,000 participants Sunday including 5,000 for the full marathon and 14,000 for the half.
Will Loevner will provide some local flair in the elite field for the men’s full marathon. The Winchester Thurston alum finished second to Bowman last year in a time of 2:17.38.
He knows what it is like to win a full marathon as he has done so in both Cleveland and Philadelphia.
Officials from P3R, the machine behind the Pittsburgh Marathon; city and county government officials, including Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey and Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato; and other marathon dignitaries gathered for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to officially open the fitness expo and usher in the weekend events.
“I am proud to announce that the 2025 Dick’s Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon’s weekend of events will be the largest in its history,” P3R CEO Troy Schooley said.
“I always know that I have the best seat in the house race weekend. I get to stand 20 to 30 feet away from each one of our finish lines watching all ages cross with emotion. A lot of times it is smiles, kids are smiling. Parents might be crying. But we know there is a story behind each one of those finishers, how they got there. Some of them never thought they would get there. It is so emotional, and I get to live through that.”
Schooley shared inspirational stories of weekend race participants such as Brian Rostek, a longtime participant of the Run For A Reason Charity Program and a champion for autism awareness who has been battling leukemia since last year.
“During treatment, there were moments he wasn’t sure he’d be able to participate this year, but Brian decided to fight back,” Schooley said.
“He joined the Rush to Crush Cancer team, running not just for himself but for everyone impacted by cancer.”
The marquee events also include the Pittsburgh Kids Marathon at 9:30 a.m. Saturday on the North Shore. The largest kids race in the country, more than 10,000 kids representing more than 330 schools will be ready to run.
A record number of 6,000 5K runners will race on the North Shore starting at 7:30 a.m.
“A lot of those runners came from our Kids of Steel program, and they want to take on their first 5K,” Schooley said.
The toddler trot (8:30 a.m.), pet walk (noon) and Champions Mile (8:30 a.m.) also will be Saturday.
Schooley said there are participants in town from all 50 states and 24 countries. The youngest who will cross the finish line is five months, and the oldest is 87 years young.
“There are thousands of stories, and I can’t wait to see everyone cross the finish line,” Schooley said. “I hope everyone keeps moving.”