POCATELLO — George Calley has never missed the chance to compete in the Pocatello Marathon during the 16 years that his son, Mike, has served as director of the local race.

At 84 years old, the senior Calley sees no reason to stop supporting his son’s event now. As of Tuesday, George Calley was the oldest runner registered for a race during the Pocatello Marathon, scheduled for Saturday morning. The finish line will be on South Second Avenue near Ross Park.

George Calley, of Boise, stopped running full marathons in the mid-1990s but has stuck with the sport. At the upcoming Pocatello Marathon, he’ll compete in the 5K.

“He was the one who got me into running marathons,” Mike Calley said. “When I finished playing football (for Idaho State University) I took off with the running and followed in his footsteps, if you will.”

Mike Calley’s wife and two daughters have also made participating or volunteering on race day an annual event.

The marathon has been a local Labor Day weekend tradition since 2000. It had to be canceled last summer due to COVID-19, but participation will be as strong as ever when it makes its return on Saturday. As of Tuesday, Mike Calley said 611 people had signed up for the event, which is equal to the 2019 total. He expects several additional racers will sign up at the last minute, especially for the shorter races.

As of Tuesday, he said 150 racers had registered for the full marathon, which starts at 6:15 a.m. The largest race will be the half marathon, which starts at 8 a.m. and had 205 registered participants. At 8:45 a.m., the 10K, which had 71 registered participants, will start. Another 147 people had registered for the 5K, which starts at 9 a.m. Kids races start at 10:30 a.m. He said 27 kids had registered.

Runners from 38 states will be racing: The top 10 states represented are Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Wisconsin, Washington, Texas, Oregon, Illinois, Montana and Colorado.

“It’s a fast course — a good qualifying course for (the Boston Marathon),” Mike Calley said. “It is the big race type of event with a small-town flair.”

Typically, racers are treated to a potato bar and barbecue at the finish line. The buffet-style meal won’t be offered this year due to COVID-19, but runners will be given packaged snacks and beverages. Other COVID-19 precautions will include requiring runners to wear face masks on shuttle buses to starting lines and arranging the course so a shuttle bus won’t be necessary for the 5K.

Through Thursday, registration at pocaellomarathon.com will be $100 for the marathon, $90 for the half marathon, $55 for the 10K and $50 for the 5K.

The marathon is organized under the Pocatello Sports Committee, which was created in 1987 to bring the NCAA national championship football game to Pocatello. Mike Calley explained around the time when the marathon was started 21 years ago, the St. George Marathon in Utah was a huge event that had grown so large a lottery system had to be adopted for participants. Local runner Jed Thomas saw an opportunity for Pocatello to fill an unmet need, so he approached the local Chamber of Commerce about organizing a marathon. They referred him to the Pocatello Sports Committee, which agreed to take on the event.

Calley was involved with the race even its first year, when he was part of the ISU Football Alumni Team, which put together the Friday night spaghetti dinner for runners in advance of the race.