LOCKPORT — The Common Council on Wednesday gave the go-ahead for an ultramarathon — a 100-mile, 24-hour footrace — to use the city marina as the start-finish line and as an aid station.

Resurrection Racing, headed by Sam Pasceri of Lockport, an ultrarunner, plans its first 24-hour event for 7 a. m. Feb. 27 at the Nelson C. Goehle Widewaters Marina on Market Street.

Pasceri, whose cousin is married to Council President Richelle J. Pasceri, said 42 ultrarunners already are signed up for the race, and he is capping the field at 50. Information is available at

www.winter100.com

. The course follows the Erie Canal towpath from Lockport to Middleport and back again. That’s a 25-mile round trip; the competitors who seek to complete the 100-mile race must run it four times.

Other runners will try to keep going for 24 hours; their minimum is two round trips, or 50 miles, Pasceri said. The entry fee is $149.

“The people coming to this event already know they can run 100 miles,” Pasceri said.

“I’m out of breath just thinking about it,” said Alderwoman Flora M. McKenzie, D-3rd Ward.

The race’s official name is the Beast of Burden Winter Race. Pasceri said he is billing it as the flattest, fastest ultramarathon course in the United States. He said he hopes to organize an identical event in the summer.

Some rented lights will be turned on along the course for the overnight portion of the race, but he added, “Everybody’s required to carry a headlamp or a flashlight.”

Besides the marina, other aid stations will be set up in Gasport and in Middleport, where the fire hall will be the headquarters.

Although Pasceri said there’s a chance a sponsor might come up with a little prize money for the runners, he said, “their prize is the belt buckle [for finishing the race].”

Three Lockport residents have entered. Pasceri said Roger Niethe will try to complete his first 100-miler, while Clyde Ferguson and Gary Thompson will take a crack at the 24-hour race.

In other matters, the Council set public hearings for March 3 on two local laws.

One would require members of the Planning and Zoning boards to attend at least 75 percent of each year’s meetings. If members don’t meet the standard, they could be fired from the unsalaried boards, said the local law’s sponsor, Richelle Pasceri, although it doesn’t specifically say that.

“It’s really hard for the mayor to get them off the board unless they do something wrong,” Corporation Counsel John

J. Ottaviano said.

The other local law specifies that only

the Plumbing Board has the power to revoke plumbers’ licenses to work in the city. The City Charter says that power could lie either with the board or the Niagara County Health Department.

The Council also voted to cancel a clause in David L. Ulrich’s development contract with the city that required him to construct a farmers market at Walnut and Locust streets. That was imposed before Niagara County Produce opened its Lockport store.