CRANBERRY TWP — Cranberry Township will be well represented at the Pittsburgh Marathon Sunday.

The Cranberry YMCA's Dawn Crackers Run Club has more than 100 members participating and is one of 33 running teams registered for the Pittsburgh Marathon Team Challenge.

While the Team Challenge is affiliated with the marathon, it has nothing to do with running performance that day.

"Teams need to have at least 25 runners in either the marathon or half marathon to qualify for the team challenge," said Dawn Crackers coach Joella Richard Baker. "You submit an essay about what running has done for your club and they pick a winner."

The Dawn Crackers were formed in January 2009. The club had only two to five members running together at a time back then.

Now it has at least 10 runners at each session, 30 to 35 on weekends, and the club membership has reached 250.

Groups meet to run at 5:30 a.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays, at 4:45 p.m. on those two days, at 8 a.m. Saturdays and 6:30 or 8 a.m. Sundays.

Of the 100-plus club members participating Sunday, 38 will be running their first marathon.

Jamie Bandzak, who will run the half-marathon Sunday, is among the first timers.

"Ask me a year ago if I'd ever be running a marathon and I would have laughed," Bandzak said. "But this club is all about staying physically active and people do it for health reasons.

"I've met a lot of fantastic friends along the way, too."

The group has new and beginner runners, as well as elite status athletes. New members are always accepted, whether they belong to the Cranberry YMCA or not.

Veteran runner Sue Moury placed third overall among women at the Lower Potomac Marathon in Maryland and earned a spot in the 2011 Boston Marathon.

"I used to run all my miles by myself," Moury said in a released statement. "Now I have this group to run with. It makes our training runs go by so much faster to have people to run and talk to along the way."

Bandzak gave birth to her son in August and joined the Cranberry Y's running group in October that year. She's been with the Dawn Crackers since they officially became a club.

"Running by yourself isn't all that motivating," she said. "This is a group of supportive people and they make you feel more accountable. You know people are counting on you to be there, so you stick with it."

John Paul McFeely is another first-time marathoner and has been with the club since December.

"I was trying to get into better shape, noticed this club and decided to give it a try," he said. "Joella is an outstanding coach. She has a passion for this and is an inspiration to all of us.

"I didn't think I had a chance to be prepared to run a full marathon, but I followed her directions to a tee and here I am."

Baker said club members have dropped more than 400 pounds collectively in the past year. Cholesterol levels and blood pressure have gone down as well.

"And members say they have a lot more energy throughout the day since they're exercising and being active early in the morning," she said.

Training has been intense for the past four months. Midweek runs have been 5 to 7 miles, weekend runs about 20 miles.

"I know I've lost 26 pounds since the end of fall just doing this," McFeeley said.