PORT ANGELES — Hundreds of people ran, walked, and hobbled as fast as they could to get here Sunday, but if they were looking for lodgings, they should have kept on truckin’.
Motels throughout the city reported no vacancies Saturday night, the eve of the North Olympic Discovery Marathon.
“We probably could have sold out twice over,” said Brian Savage, general manager of the Quality Inn Uptown. “We had plenty of requests for rooms last night.”
Runners began making reservations as long as four months ago, said Savage, and several marathoners who’d crossed the finish line said they had reserved rooms early.
One half-marathon runner from North Carolina started looking for lodging a month ago and “couldn’t find any availability.”
Kathy Rogers of Whidbey Island said, “I put it off until about two weeks ago. I had to call around a few places.”
The Econo Lodge and Ramada Limited in Sequim both had to turn people away.
Full houses also were reported at the All View, Super 8, and Sportsmen motels. Only the Red Lion Hotel had a single vacancy among its 186 rooms, that one due to a last-minute cancellation.
Marti Burtini, one of 70 participants from Nanaimo, B.C., said, “We pretty much paid the wages at the Red Lion for the rest of the month.”
The group also reserved all of Michael’s Divine Dining, 1178 E. First St., on Saturday night, and other restaurants around town were jammed.
More than 1,500 people ran the marathon and half marathon. On average, each runner brought three friends and family members, said Larry Little, race director and executive director of the Port Angeles Marathon Association.
“I’m flabbergasted at the number of people who are coming with the participants,” he said.
Little said the marathon budget was around $140,000, almost all of which stays in the community.