People. In early 2004, the Madison Area Running Series was founded by Farrell Malone, Beth Schadd, John Schultz, RSVP (including David Tetzlaff) and Paul Turpin. Farrell Malone is credited with a lot of the initial work with coordination and establishing the website. In later years, other coordinators joined the series. When Farrell Malone moved away from the Madison area near the end of 2004, and others who were involved with the series ideas drifted off to other responsibilities, Paul Turpin took over a large part of the series coordination and Dave Tetzlaff with RSVP also continued to be a strong contributor and was also the race director for the RSVP 5k Run for 2004 and 2005. Later on Greg Kesling and Maryanne Hinkes joined as coordinators near the end of 2005 and they have been very active MARS participants since the begining of the series in 2004. Also near the end of 2005, Jessica Anderson joined as coordinator. The coordinator section of MARS still continues to change and develop.

Sponsors. Most of the initial sponsorship (2004 and 2005) is credited to RSVP of dane county. Following the start of the series, AARP joined in early 2004 as a sponsor, then Big Apple Bagels of Sun Prairie at the end of 2005, then Fleet Feet Sports Madison near the end of 2005, and then Fitness Together of Middleton near the end of 2006. Athens to Atlantis made an official announcement of sponsorship in December 2008. Currently, Fleet Feet Sports Madison, and Athens to Atlantis reside as sponsors.

Name Change. In its beginings, the original name of the series was the Madison Area Fitness Series. In 2006, the name was changed to Madison Area Running Series. The original Madison Area Fitness Series (MAFS) Logo and Banner can be seen here.

Growth. The Madison Area Running Series is about growth and progress. It has grown from 11 events in its beginings in 2004 to 20 events in 2008. However, the Dandelion Dash was dropped for 2008, leaving 19 total races as of early January 2008. Another race that has left the series but at an earlier year (2005) was the RSVP 5k Run. Besides the MATC Turkey trot, the RSVP 5k run was the only cross country race in the history of the series as of 2008. The RSVP 5k Run is no longer held as an annual event. There has been a relatively steady growth in the number of events each year, however, this is soon expected to level off as a result of schedule conflicts/overloading. In addition, the participation in the series has also grown over the years with the exception of 2007.

General Changes. In 2005, Rankings were compiled in a much different format allowing competitors to see one another much more easily and give better recognition of participants. In 2006, the first major web page restructuring took place. Towards the end of 2007, another major webpage restructuring took place overall and had major additions to the rankings page and Events page. In addition, online registration opened at that time. In planning for the 2008, many changes have occured including the addition of three major events in the Madison Area: Crazylegs Classic, WSDC Badger State Games, and Jerry's Race. Also, some changes were again made to the events page to allow for easier access to race information on the Madison Series Website. Also in preparation for 2008, MARS account advantages have started and will grow in the near future.

Goals. Our goal has been to increase energy in the madison area towards fitness by creating fun and setting goals among our participants, and this is still a large part of our goal today.

• 2004. Valentines 5k (#1) | 50 Furlong (#2) | Black Earth (#3) | Dandelion Dash (#4) | WTC 3k (#5) | WTC Capitol Mile (#6) | Oregon Fun Run (#7) | Depot To Depot (#8) | RSVP 5k Run (#9) | Fall 15k (#10) | MATC TT (#11)
• 2005. Valentines 5k (#1) | 50 Furlong (#2) | Black Earth (#3) | Lake Monona (#4) | Dandelion Dash (#5) | WTC 3k (#6) | WTC Capitol Mile (#7) | Oregon Fun Run (#8) | Depot To Depot (#9) | Cow Chip Classic (#10) | RSVP 5k Run (#11) | Fall 15k (#12) | MATC TT (#13)
• 2006. New Years Day Dash (#1) | Freeze for Food (#2) | Valentines 5k (#3) |50 Furlong (#4) | Black Earth (#5) | Lake Monona (#6) | Dandelion Dash (#7) | Strawberry Fest (#8) | WTC 3k (#9) | WTC Capitol Mile (#10) | Oregon Fun Run (#11) | Depot To Depot (#12) | Cow Chip Classic (#13) | Home Run (#14) | Fall 15k (#15) | MATC TT (#16)
• 2007. New Years Day Dash (#1) | Freeze for Food (#2) | Valentines 5k (#3) |50 Furlong (#4) | Black Earth (#5) | Lake Monona (#6) | Press and Run (#7) | Dandelion Dash (#8) | Strawberry Fest (#9) | WTC 3k (#10) | WTC Capitol Mile (#11) | Oregon Fun Run (#12) | Depot To Depot (#13) | Cow Chip Classic (#14) | Home Run (#15) | Fall 15k (#16) | MATC TT (#17)
• 2008. New Years Day Dash (#1) | Freeze for Food (#2) | Valentines 5k (#3) |50 Furlong (#4) | Black Earth (#5) | Crazylegs Classic (#6) | Lake Monona (#7) | Press and Run (#8) | Dandelion Dash (#9) | Strawberry Fest (#10) | Badger State Games (#11) | WTC 3k (#12) | WTC Capitol Mile (#13) | Oregon Fun Run (#14) | Depot To Depot (#15) | Cow Chip Classic (#16) | Home Run (#17) | Fall 15k (#18) | MATC TT (#19)

Madison and its surrounding communities have long had a full calendar of road races and fun runs/walks.  The growing numbers and size of these events is a testament to the serious commitment to fitness in the Madison area.  The Madison Area Running Series has been created to contribute to the growth of these events in a variety of ways:

• Recognize the accomplishments of runners of all abilities
• Recognize the top runners in the area
• Promote fitness in all ages
• Promote smaller, well-run local races by increasing participation
• Promote the races' charity organizations
• Promote the series' sponsoring organizations

The basic points of the series:

• Race connections. All registration (for each race) and race day activity is coordinated through the original race directors as normal. However, MARS does provide essential information about the races on our website and answers questions about the races. There is not any race related added overhead/coordination for the participants in series events--> You choose which of the series events you would like to run, and MARS compiles each race after it is completed to create the rankings.
• Joining. Joining the series is free and quick. Fill out or download the hard copy registration form and mail it in or bring it to one of the races. You can register online if you were registered during a previous year. Submission of the application lets the series coordinators know you are participating and subsequently aids in the scoring.  Once your registration is received, your participation in each event in the series will be tabulated automatically.
• Progress. When you are a member, you can track your progress on our rankings page.  You can also choose to receive upcoming race information about the series events by contacting us.
• Scoring. Check out the rules.  The summary of the rules: you get five points for finishing a race, with the potential to get more points for finishing well in your age group.

Update [04/20/2008]: The events in the series for the 2009 year are basically complete. If you are still interested in the series, you can contact us.

To get information about becoming a sponsor, please contact us.