MISSOULA — Local business Jewelry Design Center is putting the finishing touches on special medallions for first place winners as Marathon weekend approaches in Missoula.
Watch to learn what goes into making the special Missoula Marathon medallions:
Sixteen sterling silver medallions will be awarded to top finishers, with full marathon winners receiving one-ounce medallions and half marathon winners earning half-ounce versions.
"We're super excited to be a part of such an iconic event here in Missoula, to be able to make something that every winner of the marathon and the half marathon get to keep and commemorate," Jewelry Design Center owner Brian Toone said.
The creation process involves multiple meticulous steps, including pre-polishing, enamel application, hand sanding, and finishing to achieve a mirror-like surface.
"This is now been so we prepared the enamel, prepared the coloring, filled it in, and now we're going to be filing flat, sanding the enamel so that you get a tight look of the coloring," Toone said.
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First place winners can bring their medallions back to the center to have their finish times engraved on the back.
"They have to be pre-polished, and then they have to be post-polished after we've done the work. So we pre-polish to make sure that it gets prepared. We pile up clean polish, and then we have the enamel. Then we have to do a hand sanding of the enamel. Then we bring it here and do and this is where Alex is then going to take and bring this to a mirror finish on top," Toone explained.
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The medallions are 100% sterling silver, locally designed and crafted at Jewelry Design Center.
"I think it makes a good mark for all these people coming from across the country to see what we in Missoula can do," Toone said.
The center will have a booth selling participation medallions for those who didn't place but still completed the race on Sunday.
"Make something that's going to commemorate something that's a really big deal, a big accomplishment for these folks," Toone said.
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