ABC13 Production will also be Telecasted on Longhorn Network
HOUSTON (January 15, 2016) – The Houston Marathon Committee (HMC) announced today that the 2016 Chevron Houston Marathon and Aramco Houston Half Marathon will have an expanded U.S. viewing audience. The races will air live in Houston on ABC-13, in addition to being carried on Longhorn Network and streaming on ESPN3, Sunday, January 17th at 7:00 a.m. CT.
The 2016 Chevron Houston Marathon and Aramco Houston Half Marathon features 27,000 participants, 7,500 volunteers and over 200,000 spectators, making it the largest single-day sporting event in Houston.
“Our partnership with ABC13 has been extremely beneficial to the success of the Chevron Houston Marathon and Aramco Houston Half Marathon and its brand over the years by delivering a consistently entertaining and professional broadcast to their viewers; a fact that has been validated by this new agreement with ESPN3 and Longhorn Network,” stated Wade Morehead, Executive Director of the Houston Marathon Committee and Foundation. “Our events have a long and vibrant elite long distance running history, and we are tremendously pleased that ESPN will help expand our audience nationally by presenting our product world-wide on a mobile-friendly medium.”
ABC13 will air a three-hour live broadcast of the race from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. CT, along with a 10:35 p.m. CT event recap – The Finish Line. The WATCH ABC app will also carry the morning broadcast, as well as pace camera footage from the four elite races from 7:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. and a live finish line cam on ABC13.com until 1pm. The 44th running of the race will also be available to fans in the Houston area on WATCH ABC and nationwide on ESPN3 across WatchESPN platforms.
“KTRK-TV has worked with the Houston Marathon for over a decade to help grow awareness of the event,” said Henry Florsheim, President and General Manager of ABC-13/KTRK-TV. “We are overjoyed that Houston’s largest single day sporting event will now be available to viewers around the region and the country on ESPN’s Longhorn Network and ESPN3.”
ABC13’s programming, helmed by Tom Koch and Gina Gaston, will focus on the four elite races, inspiring stories and features on runners. Rice University Track & Field Coach Jon Warren and 2016 Olympic hopeful and Houston-native Becky Wade will call the play-by-play action the elite races. Also contributing to the broadcast will be ABC13 reporters Bob Slovak, David Nuno, Kaitlin McCulley, Ted Oberg and Samica Knight.
The Chevron Houston Marathon and Aramco Houston Half Marathon have featured the finest long distance runners in the world who have won Olympic Medals and Marathon Majors. Houston has a long and successful racing tradition, from staging the 1992 and 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon to hosting 16 U.S. Half Marathon National Championships, and in 2007, two-time Olympian Ryan Hall set the American Half Marathon Record 59:47 that still stands today.
About ABC-13
For over 50 years, ABC-13 has been the undisputed news leader in Houston, from sign-on to sign-off.  Broadcasting 46 hours of locally produced newscasts each week, ABC-13 is top-rated and most-watched among the Houston-area viewers.  ABC-13 also leads the market in its digital media efforts, with top rankings for its website, abc13.com, Facebook and Twitter.  ABC-13 is the first and only television station in Houston with WATCH ABC, which delivers live, 24/7 digital streaming of our programming to users on their smartphones and tablets. ABC-13 is deeply invested in the Houston community, and we spotlight Houston’s diversity with community affairs programs covering issues that affect different segments of our population—from Crossroads, Viva Houston, Visions to City View. ABC-13 is also known for telecasting most of the city’s major events including the annual July 4th Freedom Over Texas celebration, The Chevron Houston Marathon, The Bayou Bowl and The Houston Rodeo Parade.  The station also broadcasts several community affairs projects throughout the year including: Share Your Holidays, an annual food drive benefiting the Houston Food Bank; and our E-cycle Drive, a collection/recycling effort for outdated electronic equipment in conjunction with Earth Day.
About ESPN3
ESPN3 is ESPN’s live multi-screen sports network, a destination that delivers thousands of exclusive sports events annually.  It is accessible on computers, smartphones, tablets and connected devices to more than 99 million homes at no additional cost to fans who receive their high-speed Internet connection or video subscription from an affiliated service provider.  The network is also available at no cost to approximately 21 million U.S. college students and U.S.-based military personnel via computers, smartphones and tablets connected to on-campus educational and on-base military broadband and Wi-Fi networks.
Longhorn Network Info
ESPN has a 20-year agreement to own and operate a year-round, 24-hour network dedicated to Texas athletics in partnership with UT and IMG College. Longhorn Network offers a variety of content, highlighted by more than 175 exclusive events annually from 20 sports, original series and studio shows, historical programming and academic and cultural happenings.
About the Houston Marathon Committee, Inc.
Established in 1972, the Houston Marathon Committee, Inc. (HMC), a Running USA Founding Member, annually organizes the nation’s premier winter marathon, half-marathon, and 5K. Over 250,000 participants, volunteers and spectators make Chevron Houston Marathon Race Day the largest single-day sporting event in Houston. Race Weekend generates over $50 million in economic impact for the region annually. In 2015, the Run for a Reason Charity Program raised $2.5 million and the HMC retained Gold Certification from the Council of Responsible Sport and was awarded the AIMS Green Award for industry-leading sustainability initiatives. Host to 16 U.S. Half Marathon Championships since 2005 and the 1992 women’s Olympic Trials Marathon, the HMC conducted the nationally-televised 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon, which featured men and women competing on the same course simultaneously for the first time, vying for the chance to represent Team USA at the 2012 Olympic Games.