A whopping $1 million was generated by the 2013 Adirondack Marathon and Distance Festival, giving a huge boost to the regional economy, a research study by Kent University has found.

Owners of lodging establishments, restaurants, bars and entertainment venues were the big benefactors. And that increased the total earnings of some local residents by more than $300,000 and also generated an employment effect of 10.4 full-time equivalent jobs.

The study team was led Shawn Rohlin, Ph.D., an economics professor at Kent State University’s College of Business Administration. Rohlin and a team of graduate students in research and analysis were commissioned to measure the business benefit to the local communities.

From a pressrRelease from Kent Sate:

“This study highlights the strong positive effect the Adirondack Marathon has on the local economy. With a large percentage of runners being from out-of-town, the majority of the economic impact came from non-local participants spending money while visiting the area for the race,” Rohlin said. “Overall, the race brought roughly 1 million additional dollars to the region, which increased local residents’ earnings by over $300,000.”

Rohlin and his students discovered most of the economic activity took place in the main sectors of the economy, including lodging, restaurants, bars and entertainment. In addition to monetary contributions, the festival also generated an employment effect of 10.4 full-time equivalent jobs. Joel Friedman, race director, said he didn’t know how much the festival affected the economy, but knew there was an impact.

“We knew the Adirondack Marathon Distance Festival had a significant impact on the local economy, but I was wowed to see the research results compiled by Kent State University,” Friedman said.

For 2013, the Adirondack Marathon Distance Festival attracted 1,266 race participants from around the globe, including racers from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong, Slovakia and the United Kingdom. Runners from the United States represented at least two-thirds of the country with some coming from as far away as Alaska.

The 2014 festival will take place the weekend of September 27 in Chestertown and Schroon Lake, New York. The weekend will once again feature seven events: a full marathon, half marathon, 2 and 4 person marathon relays, 10k, 5k and a 1k kid’s fun run. Friedman said he expects to see similar results for the 2014 festival.

“While this year’s registration has only been open a few months, so far runners are registered from Canada, Mexico and Sweden as well as from at least 23 states including Hawaii,” Friedman said. “From what we see thus far, our expectation for the 18th annual Adirondack Marathon Distance Festival will again prove to have a positive impact on the economy of our local communities”.

For more information on the Adirondack Marathon Distance Festival, cilck here.

For more information about Kent State’s Economic Department and the College of Business Administration, click here.