Pittsburgh Marathon Staff And Volunteers Preparing For Race Weekend

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- It's take a lot to put on a world-class marathon weekend, and the numbers involved in the Dick's Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon might astound you.

Take staffing, more than 300 marathon personnel, 500 physicians, nurses and paramedics and 400-500 city, county and state employees.

"Most importantly, we have our 4,000 volunteers and that makes the whole thing come together really well," said Dan Monhemius, PR3 Warehouse Manager.

In the Strip District the marathon's warehouse is piled high with t-shirts, mile placards, aid station placards, traffic cones and rakes. All of this stuff will need to be deployed in two weeks, starting with fluids.

"It's obviously important that people stay hydrated," said Monhemius. "We provide a lot of fluids on the course."

That's an understatement, the marathon has on the ready some 20,000 gallons of water and 12,000 gallons of the energy-endurance drink, Nuun and all of it needs to be poured into a staggering 480,000 paper cups.

"So as you can imagine, 480,000 cups, that's why these volunteers are so important," Monhemius said. "That's a lot of pouring."

Along the 26.2 mile route there will be 17 medical aid stations and 700 Port-A-Potties, but if you actually complete the marathon, the half marathon or relay, you're bound to be hungry.

At the finish line, there will be 22,000 Eat-N-Park Smiley Cookies, 32,000 Giant Eagle bananas, 22,000 Panera Bread Bagels and another 60,000 bottles of water from GNC.

Marathon weekend is a mammoth job providing some 40,000 participants a quality experience in what has become one of the premiere running events in the nation.