By Gwen Sour
For The Parkersburg News and Sentinel
Parkersburg – About 1,000 runners and walkers took to the streets of Parkersburg on Saturday morning for The Parkersburg News and Sentinel Half Marathon and Two Mile Race.
Art Smith, co-director of the races, said the event brought residents, volunteers and visitors together on what developed into a pleasant summer day.
“A town’s a community when people come together,” Smith said. “People make a community, and it kind of brings the whole town together. The bonus is an event that is good for you. Any movement is good for you.”
The half marathon was the 2026 Road Runners Club of America West Virginia Championship. This year marked The News and Sentinel’s 22nd sponsorship of the event.
Race participants ran over a revised course that moved 5 miles of the 13.1-mile course away from streets and eliminated 35 intersection crossings. The changes were intended to improve safety, reduce traffic disruptions and decrease the number of officers and volunteers needed along the route.
The new course took runners through the Julia-Ann Square Historic District, along 4 miles of the Parkersburg Ohio River Trail and through Fort Boreman Park before returning downtown for the traditional finish on Market Street. It removed the 13th Street hill, but added a longer climb through Fort Boreman Park.
The Two-Mile course remained unchanged.
Smith said race organizers were uncertain how well the revised route would work until athletes tested it under race conditions.
“We spent months trying to come up with a better course,” Smith said. “Until you actually have athletes out running on it, you don’t know if it’s going to be the ideal route or not. To stand here and see that it’s actually a beautiful course that people seem to be really embracing, it’s pretty fulfilling.”
From 600-700 volunteers helped organize the races, manned water stations and directed participants along the course.
Among Saturday’s competitors was 15-year-old Alyssa McCrady, a Parkersburg South High School student who won her division in the Two Mile Race. McCrady, a member of the school’s cross-country team, said the event as an opportunity to prepare for the upcoming season.
“It was just kind of a good start to the season,” McCrady said. “We’re starting our actual races for the team next week, so it’s just kind of a fun start to the season.”
McCrady didn’t participate with hopes of being first.
“I’m really happy about it,” she said. “I wasn’t really expecting it, to be honest.”
McCrady began running after encouragement from her mother, who also competed in the sport while in high school. McCrady started running in middle school and decided to continue after discovering how much she enjoyed it.
Fourteen-year-old Addison Thorpe also used the Two Mile Race to prepare for cross-country season. Thorpe is in her second year with the Parkersburg High School cross-country team.
“The newer cross-country runners were going to run the Two Mile just for practice,” Thorpe said.
Thorpe previously participated in gymnastics before following her brother into cross-country. She said the transition between the sports was smooth and described running as a fun activity.
Athletes of different ages and abilities participate was part of what made the event worthwhile, Smith said.
“To see 1,000 people out running or walking on what turned out to be a beautiful summer day, it’s kind of a neat thing to be part of,” he said.
Read more from The Parkersburg News and Sentinel, here.
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