ST. GEORGE — Thousands of runners are set to descend on Utah's Dixie this weekend for the 29th St. George Marathon, an annual event that pumps more than $1.5 million into the local economy without breaking a sweat.

"Most of those runners are bringing family and friends with them," said John Bradley, administration operations manager for the St. George Marathon. "We get a lot of people coming into town for the marathon and it just fills everything up from Mesquite to Cedar City."

Marathoners who neglect their lodging needs find help in Connie Gardner, who specializes in locating rooms for runners.

"I'll probably get bombarded with calls today," said Gardner, who works for Travel Utah. "It's a lot of work. We just have more people than we have rooms for."

Of the 4,000 rooms in the St. George area, Gardner said on Wednesday that she had only one left to fill. More rooms are available in Mesquite, but that's a 30-minute drive from St. George and runners already have an early morning start on race day.

"The only problem we have with hotels in this area is that some undesirable ones will raise their prices by $80 a night. People don't like that," she said.

Hotels, restaurants, retail shops and gas stations will all see an increase in business from the marathon, said Bradley, citing results of a recent online survey.

"We do a post-marathon survey each year and ask people how much money they spent in those areas," he said. "On average, each participant said they spent about $340 in marathon expenses."

In another questionnaire, filled out by 1,359 runners when they registered, race officials learned that the marathon attracted a diverse crowd of professionals, with more than 50 percent earning more than $50,000 a year. A large chunk of those who responded said they earned more than $100,000 a year.

The St. George Marathon uses a lottery system to select 6,700 runners from the list of applicants. This year more than 9,500 runners vied for a place in the lineup.

"Over 60 percent of runners are from Utah," said Bradley, adding 900 are from Washington County alone. Runners from 47 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and nine foreign countries will start the race.

Another 12 percent are from California, including this year's potential race winners, Steve and Heather Frisone. The couple's projected finishing times put them first in the marathon's top 20 list of men and women running the course.

The marathon is so popular, in fact, that race organizers keep inducting new members to its elite Ten-Year Club, which boasts more than 750 runners. Another 53 runners can boast membership in the 20-year club.