Race Starting Location:
200 Garfield Street, Lafayette, LA
The Zydeco Marathon is a Running race in Lafayette, Louisiana consisting of a Marathon.
The Zydeco Marathon & 1/2 is a full and half marathon running event held in Lafayette, Louisiana. Lafayette is world renown for our rich heritage, awesome cajun food, and, of course, Zydeco music.
Zydeco Marathon combines a fun, safe, and memorable run with our Finish Line Festival, bringing all that Lafayette is known for straight to you after your run. Zydeco Marathon & 1/2 is a USATF sanctioned event on a certified course. We are a Boston Qualifier.
Participation Benefits:
a Scenic Course: the route selected will cover some of the best of Lafayette.
a Route Motivation: Cheering locals lining the course for plentiful course support
a Race shirt: Participant Shirt & Swag Bag
a Medal: Finishers receive a medal as they cross the finish line.
a Finish line festival: featuring the best live music in our area!
a Expo: Running exposition the day prior of the event located at Blackham Coliseum
Zydeco Marathon is very excited to present a relay option. There are two options for the relay that will traverse the half and full marathon courses. The full marathon relay is a 4 person relay, and the half marathon relay is a 2 person relay. Either option will give you and your family and friends an opportunity to run our outstanding course through scenic Lafayette!
Full Marathon Relay
The Full Marathon Relay will consist of four legs that will be 6.2 miles, 6.9 miles, 6.2 miles, and 6.9 miles. Each team member will have a specific bib for each leg of the relay. Please have your team order finalized before the Zydeco Expo for accurate timing. The bib order will follow this pattern: Team 1: 1st leg bib 2001, 2nd leg 2002, 3rd leg 2003, 4th leg 2004; Team 2: 1st leg 2005, 2nd leg 2006, 3rd leg 2007, 4th leg 2008 and so on. Also, the bib color for the full marathon relay will have a unique color. Each exchange point is conveniently located near a water station. We will have Zydeco bars and bananas at these water stations for our relay participants as well.
Leg one will start at the start line on Jefferson St at the same time as the half and full marathon. It will be important for the first leg to be in the corral 30 minutes prior to the gun time at 7 AM. This leg will take you through the Saint Street, Cajundome, Downtown, and Freetown neighborhoods and will end at the 6.2 timing split on St. Mary St. on UL's campus near Angelle Hall. Leg two will traverse through UL, the Oil Center, Bendel Gardens neighborhood, and Freetown, and will end at the 13.1 timing split right as the full marathon turns right onto Kaliste Saloom Road. Leg three will travel down Kaliste Saloom and Pinhook into the East Bayou neighborhood into River Ranch. This leg will conclude at the 19.3 timing split at the intersection of Camellia Boulevard and Settlers Trace Blvd. Leg four will go back through River Ranch and East Bayou back towards Downtown Lafayette and will conclude at the finish line on Jefferson Street. You will be in walking distance to join your teammates at the Finish Line Festival!
Half Marathon Relay
The Half Marathon Relay will consist of two legs that will be 6.2 miles and 6.9 miles. Each team member will have a specific bib for each leg of the relay. Please have your team order finalized before the Zydeco Expo. The bib order will follow this pattern: Team 1: 1st leg bib 2101, 2nd leg 2102; Team 2: 1st leg 2103, 2nd leg 2104; Team 3: 1st leg 2105, 2nd leg 2106 and so on. Also, the bib color for the half marathon relay will have a unique color. We will have Zydeco bars and bananas at these water stations for our relay participants as well.
Leg one will start at the start line on Jefferson St at the same time as the half and full marathon. It will be important for the first leg to be in the corral 30 minutes prior to the gun time at 7 AM. This leg will take you through the Saint Street, Cajundome, Downtown, and Freetown neighborhoods and will end at the 6.2 timing split on St. Mary St. on UL's campus near Angelle Hall. Leg two will traverse through UL, the Oil Center, Bendel Gardens neighborhood, and Freetown, and will conclude in Downtown Lafayette at the finish line on Jefferson Street. You will be in walking distance to join your teammates at the Finish Line Festival!
Timing, Scoring, & Awards
Each team member will wear an individual bib for timing. After passing through the timing mats, the relay exchange will occur 50 feet past the mat with a simple tag or fist-bump to dignify the new runner.
The relay will use chip timing courtesy of Cajun Timing, and the overall time will be based on the combined chip time of the team members. Each runner's individual time will be determined by the elapsed time from timing split to timing split. It is important for the runners waiting in the corrals to not walk near the timing mats to create any timing issues.
All relay participants will receive an official Zydeco Half Marathon finisher's medal.
Relay Travel & Exchange Areas
We will have van transportation to take you to the relay exchange corral and back to the finish line festival in Downtown once you have conquered your leg.
Leg one participants will report to the start corral, while the remainder of the runners will meet at the intersection of Lee and Vermilion in Downtown to the catch a ride to their area. Please see the parking section of our website for parking locations on race morning. Please arrive by 6:30 AM to ensure on time transit, especially if you are running Leg Two. Leg two runners will be transported first, and then leg three and four.
If you do not ride the van, you will be responsible for making it to the corral area on your own.
Once you arrive to your destination, you will be guided by our amazing volunteers to the corral areas. Here you will await your teammate's arrival. We will have water nearby. We will station a volunteer a quarter mile ahead of the exchange point and they will coordinate with the volunteer near the corral to alert you that your teammate is approaching the exchange area.
Once you have completed your leg, one of the vans will take you back to downtown to the area of the finish line festival. The van for Leg One will be stationed in the parking lot of the UL Foundation at the corner of Taft and St. Mary. This will be next to our water stop. The van for Leg Two will be in the parking lot of ESA on Kaliste Saloom, near the water station. The van for Leg Three will be parked by the intersection of Settlers Trace Boulevard and River Ranch Boulevard.
You can meet up with your teammates and celebrate finishing the Zydeco Relay!