Marathon’s race director is in it for the long haul
On May 2, 2010, Pittsburgh Marathon race director Patrice Matamoros was sitting in the pace car at mile 10on the half-marathon course, monitoring some approaching lightning, when she got a call from the race’s emergency operations center. Police believed there might be a bomb near thefinish line.
This can’t be happening, she thought as she jumped out of the convertible and ran toward the finish near the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Downtown.
A bomb squad had used yellow police tape to cordon off blocks around what looked like a microwave oven. But no one wanted to take chances, given the massive crowd gathering to see the runners, and given that, the day before, New York City police had shut down parts of Times Square after finding avehicle containing several bombs.
“It’s trash!” she called out as she ran toward the mundane-looking box. “Can’t you just move it?”
But an X-ray of its contents only heightened police concerns. Some talked about canceling the race.
Just 18 months into her job, Ms. Matamoros wasn’t about to give up so easily. She and other organizers had survived the craziness of the inaugural marathon the year before, when the course finish had been breached with skateboarders, dogs and baby strollers; surely an
abandoned appliance was no reason to leave thousands of runners stranded all over the city.
She refused to make any announcements until officials worked up an evacuation plan.
They decided to redirect runners to six different finish lines, while the bomb squad used a robot to dismantle the kitchen device, which turned out to be just that.
The marathon continued, and despite the headlines, the event only picked up speed. Even more people signed up the next year and every year since.
The bomb scare did push the marathon to update its safety procedures, and today it has one of the most comprehensive emergency response plans of any race in the nation. It also has one of the fiercest, battle-tested race leaders.
“You have to be resilient and try to keep moving forward,” says Ms. Matamoros, 50, of O’Hara, who has consistently done that over the past decade to become widely recognized as one of the strongestfemale race directors in a male-dominatedfield.
Aren’t you a mom?
Her success doesn’t surprise people who know her. A three-time state cross-country champ during high school in rural Montana (there were just 17 in her graduating class), she was a nationally ranked collegiate runner in Arizona and Florida. Then she tore her hip labrum. At 20, her running days were over. Shewas devastated.
As she puts it, “Running was my whole life and the key to everything I was doing.”
Having lost her scholarship, she transferred to Old Dominion University in Virginia and applied her running discipline toward earning a degree in marketing and business administration. She worked in sales for the Ford Motor Co. for five years before quitting to raise her two sons and daughter, now 20, 19 and 16.
She continued to plan galas and raise funds for nonprofits, from Annapolis, Md., to Pittsburgh.
It was the $50,000 she raised for the St. Margaret Foundation’s annual 5K in Aspinwall in 2008 — a small race with just 500 runners — that inspired marathon organizer Michele Fetting to offer her the job as race director. The women knew each other through Fairview Elementary in Fox Chapel, where their kids went to school and Ms. Matamoros had started a successful Run for Fun program.
Ms. Matamoros was thrilled to accept. “It was like, holy cow! A way for running to be in my life without running.”
Not everyone was on board.
“Aren’t you a mom?” people asked. “What are your credentials?”
Her business background made her and others confident that, even though the marathon had been dormant for five years, she could bring it back.
“She’s tenacious, and absolutely motivated to do great things,” says Larry Grollman, who served as race director for the old marathon from 1996 to 2003. “She just hasthis incredible energy.”
Making it happen
Managing a race that draws thousands of runners, tests residents’ patience and strains city resources is a difficult task. Organization and leadership skills are mandatory.
In addition to attracting athletes through sponsorships and marketing, a race director is responsible for preparing a budget, organizing volunteers, working with local government and emergency responders, and making sure there’s enough port-a-potties on the course and bananas at the finish.
And there’s also the major issue of security, especially right after the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013.
What made Ms. Matamoros’job harder, Mr. Grollman adds, was that she started with few records, no staff and little money. She didn’t receive any salary for six months and put the first $12,000 of expenses on her owncredit card.
The key to making it all work, Ms. Matamoros says, was surrounding herself with talented, equally committed people. People such as communications director Dee Stathis, who shared Ms. Matamoros’ cube (and power cord) in borrowed office space in the old Alcoa building in year one, and is now chief operating officer of P3R, the nonprofit that runs the marathon.
Ms. Matamoros also has traveled to dozens of races across the country to both observe and pitch in, and she communicates regularly with other race directors.
“The energy just carries me,” she says. “I don’t get caught up in the petty stuff.”
A visionary
The marathon’s 10th anniversary on May 6 isn’t the only feather in the race director’s cap. In February, she received Running USA’s Women’s Leadership Award, joining an elite group of women who have set the course for gender equality in the sport.
CEO Rich Harshbarger says her business and leadership skills are second to none. But she’ll do anything to chip in and help. Like the time at the Cleveland Marathon when a rainstorm scared away other volunteers and she pulled on a hat, put her phone in a plastic bag and got to work.
Ed Trapp, commander of the special deployment division of the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police, says that team approach extends to city officials. He’s attended countless security and traffic meetings with her, and her first and last question is always: How do we work together to stay aheadof things?
In the 10 years she has been at the helm, the Pittsburgh marathon has grown from an event that drew a sold-out field of 10,000 in its first year to one that expects 40,000 runners over the course of race weekend. Cleveland Marathon executive director Jack Staph lauds her ability to attract runnersand make money.
But she says her team is creating an opportunity for thousands of Pittsburghers to set a goal, work hard at it, earn a medal when they cross the finish — and go home feeling good about themselves. “We’re changing people’s lives.”