The Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon is a 42.28-kilometre (26.27 mi) race run the 1st Sunday of every May in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was first run in 1999. It is the 3rd largest first-time marathon in the United States, and had nearly 5000 finishers in 2008. An official time from the Flying Pig Marathon can be used to qualify for the Boston Marathon. While the course usually varies from year to year, it generally involves running through downtown, Northern Kentucky, and eastern suburbs along the Ohio River. In recent years, it has included a 5K race, a 10K race, and a half-marathon in addition to the traditional marathon race. The 5K and 10K run on the day before the marathon. The half-marathon starts and finishes at the same locations as the full marathon, and runs on the same day as the full marathon. Total participation for all weekend events exceeded 30,408 in 2011.
The 2006 overall male winner was Cecil Franke with a course record time of 2:20:25. The 2002 overall female winner was Tatyana Pozdnyakova with a course record time 2:34:35.
The 2011 race was notable for a blind runner winning the women's division.
In order to run in the Flying Pig Full Marathon, one must be eighteen years or older on the date of the marathon. However, individuals under eighteen years of age with a permission slip signed by their parents, as well as a signed waiver, may run in the full marathon.
Famous quotes containing the words flying, pig and/or marathon:
“Someone is always at my elbow reminding me that I am the grand-daughter of slaves. It fails to register depression with me. Slavery is sixty years in the past. The operation was successful and the patient is doing well, thank you. The terrible struggle that made me an American out of a potential slave said “On the line!” The Reconstruction said “Go!” I am off to a flying start and I must not halt in the stretch to look behind and weep.”
—Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960)
“Edible. Good to eat and wholesome to digest, as a worm to a toad, a toad to a snake, a snake to a pig, a pig to a man, and a man to a worm.”
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914)
“The mountains look on Marathon—
And Marathon looks on the sea;
And musing there an hour alone,
I dreamed that Greece might still be free;
For standing on the Persians’ grave,
I could not deem myself a slave.”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)