Lee Corrigan, president of Corrigan Sports Enterprises, the event organizer, said designing a route is challenging and that while crime is a consideration, distance and topography come first. The city charges him by the intersection, and costs for everything from the public works crews who put up picnic tables at the finish line to officers who reroute traffic run in excess of $100,000 each year.
Corrigan said no runner has ever been attacked or become a crime victim along the route during the event.
"Not only have we never had a problem, but in some of those neighborhoods they come out and get excited and are very supportive of the runners," he said. "It's a great day for Baltimore."
Events such as marathons, bicycle races and parades don't often go through East Baltimore and up McCulloh Street, where drug dealers set up shop on many of the corners. It is three blocks from parallel Pennsylvania Avenue, one of the worst open-air drug markets in the city and where police have a task force charged with curbing narcotics sales.
Corrigan said runners will hit McCulloh early in the race and will still be bunched up; most should pass Washington Street before noon.
Race and city officials, including hundreds of officers, will be out in force, some participating in the race. Sheryl Goldstein, head of the mayor's office of criminal justice, has a female running team that is challenging two male teams from the Police Department's command staff, one of which includes the commissioner, in a relay race. And the Commissioner's Cup is up for grabs for a winning team out of the nine police districts.
"I expect there will be a lot of officers running," Goldstein said. But even through the toughest neighborhoods, she said , " I don't expect anyone to run with sidearms " .
