No plans for Reinke-run marathon in Lafayette

LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - The organizer of a half marathon that moved from Purdue to Flora said he still wants a shot at putting together a race in Tippecanoe County.

At The Half Marathon in Flora, race organizer Dean Reinke told News Channel 18 Purdue and Penn State are the only Big Ten schools that don't host big races like this one every year. He said he could stir up a much bigger turnout in Lafayette and West Lafayette.

But one tourism official said it's not likely to happen.

"We would be very interested in having a half marathon in our community in the future, but there are plenty of other promoters and race coordinators," said Jo Wade, president of the Lafayette-West Lafayette Convention and Visitors Bureau

Wade said Reinke would not be at the top of the list if the community hosted a race next year. But Reinke said he has the ability to make the once-named "Home of Purdue Half Marathon" an event that could rival a home football game.

"This year could have had three- to four-thousand participants, based on our events that we do and where the registration was eight, 10 months ago. We think within 10 years, we would have eight- to ten-thousand runners," Reinke said.

Instead, Reinke said he had 1000 runners registered before this weekend's event. At the race Sunday, he told News Channel 18 about 70 percent of those participants showed up.

Wade said race records show a different story.

"He's - without a doubt - a promoter, and he's trying to put the best foot forward," she said. "As far as we can tell from the race results, there were 333 runners who finished the marathon."

Those numbers can be seen at the website onlineraceresults.com . Reinke would not say whether his company had lost money on this race, or how much money it cost to put on.

The race was originally titled the "Home of Purdue Half Marathon," but Reinke said on race day that he was not going to use that name or trademark for this year's event.

"For us, it's a first step to trying to come up with a resolution, so next year we can get back to the original course we had designed a year ago," he said. "So today we're formally announcing that we're going to go ahead and settle with Purdue, and we'll drop the name and trademark."

Reinke said if he were invited to put on the race in Tippecanoe County next year, he thinks he could raise as much as five or six figures to go toward charity or a scholarship fund.