More than 5,000 run in Outer Banks Marathon races

Sunny weather and mild temperatures combined to create another perfect day for full and half-marathoners participating in the 2011 Outer Banks Marathon.

The full marathon kicked off at 7:20 a.m. in Kitty Hawk, with runners eventually finishing in downtown Manteo.

Mike Kelly, one of the event’s founders, was at the start. Kelly told us this year about 1,200 runners had registered for the full race, and another 3,900 had signed up for the half, placing over 5,000 runners on the course.

Kelly noted that participation was down this year.

“When the OBX Marathon started, there were only three total events regionally in November,” he said. “Now there are six, including races in Raleigh, Richmond and Hampton Roads”, races that have sapped participation in the local event.

After the start, we headed over to the Ocean Acres/Nags Head Woods Road checkpoint, which is at the 11-mile marker, nestled in the Nature Conservancy area. The first runners crossed that checkpoint about 65 minutes after the starting gun. The last runner came through at about 10:30 a.m.

See a huge gallery of photos on our facebook page »

In the marathon, Tim Surface of Raleigh won the men’s with a time of 2:38:40 and Megan Hovis of Charlotte took the women’s, finishing in 2:54:38. In the half marathon, Julius Kogo of Chapel Hill was the men’s winner, clocking the a time of 1:04:17, Mulu Seboka won the women’s division at 1:13:20.

The top local finishers were Chuck Parker of Kitty Hawk in the men’s marathon, coming in 30th, and Jennifer Gusler of Kill Devil Hills who was 14th on the women’s side. Pete Gibson of Murfreesboro was 10th best in the men’s half marathon, and Melissa Garber of Kitty Hawk came in 39th in the women’s half.

Sunday’s results:
Full marathon »
Half marathon »

The video shows the start of the full marathon and includes some footage of runners passing the 11-mile checkpoint.

Video by Teuta Shabani Towler.

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