It wasn’t until her mother finished her first half marathon shortly after undergoing radiation for breast cancer that Tamara Daniels found the motivation to run a marathon.

“I’ve never thought of myself as a long distance runner. But she inspired me to do it,” said the 26-year-old assistant district attorney after a ten-mile run in New York’s Central Park.

This past summer, Daniels, an avid runner of smaller distances, signed up for a running class sponsored by the New York Road Runners Club Inc. with fellow jogger Kim Pallen, 23. The two met while running a 5K corporate challenge — Pallen was an intern at Daniels’ office.

They are now almost halfway into training for the ING Miami Marathon in January, the first marathon for both. After the event, the two want to celebrate with a cruise out of Miami.

Runners like Daniels, her mother and Pallen are fuelling a second major running boom. The first boom occurred in the 1970s after American Frank Shorter’s gold medal in the 1972 Olympic marathon inspired Americans off their feet to attempt the 26.2-mile race. Now, more runners are lacing up their sneakers at the starting lines of longer races. Cities and retailers hope to benefit from the renewed interest by turning local marathons into running festivals to attract tourist dollars and show off their communities. The Road Running Information Center reported that half marathon finishers rose seven percent in 2004 from the previous year and marathon finishers followed with a six percent gain. Well-known races like the Chicago and New York City Marathons have capped their registrations to avoid overflow. The New York City Marathon expected 37,000 runners to participate in yesterday’s race.

Participants in second tier races in Miami, Portland and Detroit have also skyrocketed as more runners are shut out of big time races and new faces enter the field. More cities are jumping in the race. The number of marathons nationwide has grown steadily in the last five years, according to MarathonGuide.com., from 272 events in 2001 to 359 scheduled marathons for 2006.

Most marathons are started by local running clubs with the economic and logistical support from the host cities. But in some cases, cities initiate the formation of their own marathons and bring in outside event management companies to organise the event and find sponsors.

“We’re seeing a lot of smaller and mid-size cities putting more effort into their races to bring more people and money into their cities,” said Jean Knaack, executive director of Road Runners Club of America. “Marathons seem to have its own niche tourism market. They get a lot of out-of-towners.”

In its second year, the Fargo Marathon in North Dakota saw its registration jump from 2,400 runners in all of its events — marathon, 5K, half marathon, relay and kid’s race — to 6,000 this year. The event drew runners from 46 different states and three countries.

“This is an opportunity for people to see what our community has to offer,” said Bryan Schultz, director of sports sales for the Fargo-Moorhead Convention & Visitors Bureau. “Now we’re seeing local businesses getting on board, wanting to sponsor the event because they see a great opportunity to showcase their business and the community.” Schultz estimates the economic impact of the race to be about $1.5 million. Other marathons can bring in more. Depending on the size of the marathon and the city, the impact varies widely from a few million dollars to tens of millions of dollars. For example, the 2005 Honolulu Marathon injected more than $100 million into the local economy, according to a Hawaii Pacific University study, putting it second to only the ING New York Marathon. Much of the money came from Japanese marathoners who spent on average $240 per day, the study said.

To increase their appeal, organisers of marathons are adding a variety of races to the agenda to create a running festival. Since even the most serious runners average only two marathons a year, shorter races like half marathons, 5Ks and 10Ks can attract racers in between marathon training.

Kevan Huston of San Francisco usually runs two marathons a year and has raced in some of the country’s largest. But when he’s not training, Huston also enjoys running smaller races and marathon relays with his running club. “If there’s ever a team element to a race competition, we get ten to 15 guys together and go to the race wearing our running club t-shirts,” said the 34-year-old researcher. “It’s a very powerful way of creating an extended community.”

Shorter races also appeal to novice runners who may be travelling with an experienced marathoner. These less intimidating races allow spouses, partners, children and older parents get involved in the festivities too.

“We saw a family of seven from Winnipeg, Canada come in and each family member ran in a different race,” Schultz said. “We’re hoping the kids’ race will go up to 5,000 and be the biggest kids’ race in the world.” Marathon events are also packaging themselves as health and lifestyle events by hosting fitness and running expositions before race day. This kind of marketing is bringing in all types of sponsors.