Blue Ridge Marathon on the Parkway

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Blue Ridge Marathon on the Parkway
Date April 24, 2010
Location Roanoke, Virginia, USA
Event type Road
Distance Marathon
Established 2010
Official site Blue Ridge Marathon

The Blue Ridge Marathon is an annual marathon and half marathon held in both Roanoke and Roanoke County, Virginia, USA. Officially announced on August 12, 2009, the inaugural event occurred on April 24, 2010.[1] The 26.2-mile (42.2 km) course starts at the Taubman Museum of Art in Downtown Roanoke and finishes at the Hotel Roanoke in the Gainsboro neighborhood.[1][2] Organizers are anticipating between 500 and 1,000 runners for the inaugural event in 2010, but hope to eventually attract 3,000 to 5,000 as the event grows.[1] The beneficiary of the marathon is the Friends of the Blue Ridge Parkway, a group dedicated to the preservation of the Blue Ridge Parkway.[1]

The Course

The 26.2-mile (42.2 km) course starts at the Taubman Museum of Art in Downtown Roanoke. From the start, the course turns to the south along Virginia State Route 116 (Jefferson Street) prior to beginning the ascent up Mill Mountain along Walnut Street.[3] From Mill Mountain, the course continues in a southwesterly course to the Blue Ridge Parkway, where the ascent up Roanoke Mountain begins at the 5.5-mile (8.9 km) mark.[3] Following the descent down the mountain, runners reenter the Parkway and make the descent down Mill Mountain near the Mill Mountain Star.[3] After the descent, runners then wind along the Roanoke River and through the South Roanoke, Wasena and West End neighborhoods prior to reaching the finish at the Hotel Roanoke.[3]

History

The first marathon held in Roanoke was organized by the local running organization, the Star City Striders, and held in 1983 as the Star City Marathon.[4] The event would be held again in 1984 before being shortened to a half marathon in 1985 due to severe flooding resulting from Hurricane Juan. The marathon returned in 1986, but was discontinued the following year and replaced with an annual half marathon and 5K.[4] The announcement in August 2009 for the 2010 event marked the return of a marathon to the Roanoke Valley for the first time since the 1986 event.

Announced on August 12, 2009, by Roanoke representative Bob Goodlatte,[1] securing a portion of the Blue Ridge Parkway to hold the event involved a bi-partisan effort from congresspersons whose districts the Parkway traverses. In addition to Goodlatte, representatives Rick Boucher Tom Perriello, Virginia Foxx, Patrick McHenry and Heath Shuler all gave their support to for holding the event.[5] The inaugural, 2010 event is scheduled to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the Blue Ridge Parkway and be included as part of the year-long celebration.[1][6][7]

The inaugural race was held on Saturday, April 24, 2010, with 324 runners completing the marathon and 450 completing the half-marathon.[8]

Marathon winners

Year Race Athlete Country/State Time Notes
2010 Men's Sykes, TimTim Sykes  United States (VA) 2:42:17 [8]
Women's Ostergaard, KarenKaren Ostergaard  United States (NC) 3:30:14 [8]
2011 Men's Dixon, MichaelMichael Dixon  United States (NJ) 2:41:26 [9]
Women's Terry, NicoleNicole Terry  United States (VA) 3:19:27 [9]
2012 Men's Brown, KarstenKarsten Brown  United States (VA) 3:01:38 [10]
Women's Bosshardt, LaurenLauren Bosshardt  United States (GA) 3:32:50 [10]
2013 Men's Powers, JeffJeff Powers  United States (PA) 2:39:49 [11]
Women's Wesolovski, HeatherHeather Wesolovski  United States (NY) 3:24:25 [11]

References

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  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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External links

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