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I ran a marathon this morning. I carried to/from, but parked away from the immediate area of the event and left my weapon locked in my console. I am an avid runner and run alot of races/fun runs. My question is as follows: are these considered "official sporting events" if they are just for fun and not qualifiers for anything? No cash is awarded, just trophies and grab bags. Thanks for your inputs.

I think you want to know if these are "professional" sporting events. Given your description, I would say you would be fine to carry during the race. I am not an instructor or attorney.

Not sure I would want to be a test case on this. Someone will post what the definition of a sporting event is and that may give you your answer. I haven't heard of too many marathon runners getting mugged on the route but I guess anything is possible.

The accepted definition of a Professional Sporting event is one in which the participants are paid for their participation.

PC §46.035. UNLAWFUL CARRYING OF HANDGUN BY LICENSE
HOLDER. (b) A license holder commits an offense if the license holder intentionally,
knowingly, or recklessly carries a handgun under the authority
of Subchapter H, Chapter 411, Government Code, regardless of
whether the handgun is concealed, on or about the license holder's
person:
(2) on the premises where a high school, collegiate, or professional
sporting event or interscholastic event is taking place, unless
the license holder is a participant in the event and a handgun is used
in the event;

The easy part to this question is that premises is determined as a physical building, I don't think you are breaking the law. Since the race is ran on the public streets as long as it doesn't finish in a stadium then you should be cool.


The hard part is that as a former runner ( collegiate and international), I know that nobody runs a marathon for fun. That is 26.3 miles of hard pavement. Those races are mostly sponsored, sanctioned by USATF and IAAF for professional athletes to compete in and recognize their official finishing times. Those races call for police escorts, road blockages, etc. That is why marathons are such a big draw and attract so many people, because someone is making a nice payday after 2 hrs of running.
You, DSARGE might be somewhere in the pack having fun, but those guys up front are in it for the money.
So, I would consider it a professional sporting event since USATrack & Field and governing body IAAF are always involved in marathons. Prize money is always given to top finishers and ribbons to stragglers. The tough part is the premises clause.
Most 5K and 10K are fun runs where they don't have any prize money because they are mostly warm up runs for the people conditioning for the marathon.

I run Marathons also and do not consider them to be a Professional sporting event FOR ME. Now as to the law, I'm not certain. It could easily be argued either way.

IANAL, but it seems to me that it would be difficult for a court to consider a marathon a "professional sporting event" when the vast majority of the competitors receive no pay whatsoever . . . and could be summoned to testify to that.

But Hank,
Like any other sporting event, because one participant did not recieve any prize money does not stop it from being a professional sporting event. Look at golf for instance. People line up for the qualifiers and do not make it to the final rounds. So because they did not place in the money standings, are you saying that those competitors did not participate in the event.

Another example is the now outlawed POKER. Thousands sit down at these poker tournaments in Vegas and many are out in less than 30mins. So I think they would be considered participating in a professional sporting event even though they went home broke.

A moment of silence for PartyPoker.

Can poker really be thought of as a sport?

AG-EE wrote:Can poker really be thought of as a sport?

There's more sweating in poker than in golf.

AG-EE wrote:Can poker really be thought of as a sport?

hey, if it's on ESPN, it's a sport, right?