As a member of the Dunmore cross country team, Joe Cardillo would help out at the team’s aide station during the Steamtown Marathon.

He remembers watching his father run in the race twice. Joseph Cardillo Sr. finished first in the Male 55-59 age group in 2016 in 3 hours, 3 minutes, 51 seconds in 2016 and third the following year in 3:15:35.

Now, it is his turn.

Cardillo is making his marathon debut Sunday in the 29th Steamtown Marathon and could be one of the contenders in the 26.2-mile race that starts at Forest City High School at 8 a.m., winds its way through the Upvalley and Midvalley and concludes at Courthouse Square in downtown Scranton.

There are more than 1,300 entrants in this year’s marathon.

“I’ve had some history watching my dad race and helping out,” Cardillo said. “It’s kind of a full-circle moment. I’m just going to try to leave it all out there.”

After graduating from Dunmore in 2022, Cardillo went to Marywood University where he ran both cross country and track. Three times he was named United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-Mid-Atlantic Region. His 8K personal record of 25:20 at the Mid-Atlantic Regionals in 2024 ranks as the cross country program’s sixth-fastest time. He holds the outdoor track program’s 10K record of 31:33, set at the Widener University Danny Curran Invitational. As a senior, he was named the Atlantic East Conference Men’s Track Athlete of the Year after he won conference titles in the 1,500 meters, 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters.

He continued to do a lot of high-mileage training during the summer after graduating from Marywood in May. He placed ninth at the Wyoming Valley 10-Mile Run in September in 52:19. Wanting to see how far he could race and pace himself over a longer distance, he felt the home turf of the Steamtown Marathon would be the best place to do that.

“When you’re young, you don’t really know what goes into it watching all those runners go by,” Cardillo said. “Now as someone who’s actually doing it, it’s quite a crazy feeling. You know how hard these people had to train going into it. Now you’re one of those people who has to show up on that starting line, perform that day and make it those 26.2 miles.”

Cardillo is projecting a time of 2:28:00. He expects to have an adrenaline rush seeing familiar faces along the course and admits it will be somewhat emotional, especially when he runs past the water station manned by the Dunmore cross country team. It also will be emotional when he runs through Carbondale; he is a teacher at Carbondale Area High School.

“I might see my colleagues or some of my students out there on the course,” Cardillo said. “Honestly, that’s going to be an incredible feeling if any of my students hand me a water. It will be exciting seeing coach (Vince) Fedor and the whole (Dunmore) cross country team, going past that. Then running by Marywood and into Dunmore and Scranton. That’s going to hit all the points.”

Among the other top male contenders is Tudor Moldovan, a 42-year old from Allentown who has run 28 marathons and is projecting a time of 2:21:00. Moldovan was the 2023 Irish 50k National Champion; has won the Limerick and Waterford Viking Marathons in Ireland twice; the Lap of the Gap Marathon once; and is the course-record holder for the Glendalough Half Marathon, the most difficult summit half-marathon in Ireland. Moldovan also placed third in the St. Luke’s Half Marathon in the Lehigh Valley in April in 1:09:05 after finishing as runner-up in 2025.

Matt Mitchell from Norristown has run 11 marathons and is projecting a time of 2:22:00. Connor Nisbet from Philadelphia is projecting a 2:27:00 in his first marathon. Dallas’ Brandon Fleschut is projecting a 2:28:00.

As for the women, Kristen Gray from Columbia, Maryland, is projecting a 2:43:00. She is a U.S. Army 1st Lt. Cyber Operations Officer and member of the Howard Country Striders Racing Team. She was that group’s 2025 Female Runner of the Year.

Maureen Carney, of Red Hook, New York, is projecting a 2:48:00. She is coming off a 52nd-place overall at the Wineglass Marathon last weekend in Corning, New York, in 2:49:10.

Four women are projecting a 2:55:00 — Maxey Hebert of Marietta Georgia; Sadie Smith from Kirkwood, Missouri; Shannon Bueker of Springfield, Virginia; and Kathleen Casey Anderson from Maryville, Tennessee. Smith has run 130 marathons, while Anderson is originally from Dickson City and a 2008 graduate of Holy Cross. Last year at Steamtown, she was the third female and 38th overall finisher in 2:52:47.86.

29TH STEAMTOWN MARATHON BY THE NUMBERS

When: Sunday, 8 a.m.

Course: The race starts at Forest City High School, makes its way through 14 communities in the Upvalley and Midvalley and finishes at Courthouse Square in downtown Scranton.

Runners: 1,359 runners are entered (717 male, 548 female) and collectively have run 12,424 marathons. There are 317 first-time marathoners. There are 395 runners from Northeast Pennsylvania and 964 from out of the area. Six countries (United States, Australia, Argentina, Canada, Colombia, France and Great Britain) and 39 states and the District of Columbia are represented. For a complete list of entrants, go to thetimes-tribune.com

Weather: Forecast is calling for some rain from Tropical Storm Isaias with a high temperature of 59 degrees and winds out of the east-southeast at 6 mph.