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A week ago tomorrow, the News and Sentinel Half Marathon entered a new era when it made a left turn onto 12th Street and adopted a new race course for the first time in decades.
We knew a year ago that we had to change where the race weaved through the streets of Parkersburg. The old course passed so many side streets that it was a challenge to have enough volunteers and police officers to keep the cars and runners and walkers apart.
After the 2025 race we started looking at different routes. Simply running the race down different streets does not really change the average number of cross streets. You only replace one set of problems with new ones.
The only real way to reduce cross streets is to find areas that don't have any. To do this we looked at ways to include area parks as part of the 13.1-mile ribbon that is the race course. Two park areas proved to be the perfect options.
The Parkersburg Ohio River Trail and Fort Boreman provide more than six miles of side street-free racing.
When racers turned left at 12th Street, they did so to reach the Ohio River Trail at one of three entrance points. They started along the trail at mile 1 and would remain on it for four miles. Once they finished, they would head toward Fort Boreman Park.
I took an easier route up the hill, driving up on a golf cart, I got to see the leaders run up the hill passing a pair of cheering water stops as they made their way to the top. The leaders didn't stop to take a selfie at the overlook, but I heard many who followed did. I took a few minutes just to watch and knew at that moment that we had made the right call and chosen the right route for the race.
Later in the morning, I drove the race course with a participant who needed a ride after pushing himself a little too hard. I got to witness firsthand the hundreds of volunteers helping along the course both at intersections and at the water stops.
Sponsors helped to make sure the racers had what they needed to be successful. As I approached the finish line, I felt a sense of relief that WE had pulled it off. The community of racers, volunteers, sponsors, vendors and workers had worked together to stage an event that really showcased the city of Parkersburg. The race would not be possible without the assistance of the Parkersburg Police Department that kept everyone safe during the race and the assistance of the Parkersburg Street Department that marked the course with arrows and huge white footprints painted at each intersection. And, of course, the Parkersburg and Vienna fire departments can be counted on to raise the enormous American flag that spans Juliana Street before the race.
The route was different, but the spirit of the volunteers remained the same, and that had always been the feature the participants liked the best.
Like the first draft of anything, the course next year will need a little more tweaking. Another sign here, an extra volunteer there. The racers and the volunteers had decades of race habits to change last Saturday. I think everyone involved rose to the occasion resulting in a great day of racing.
Registration for both the half marathon and two-mile race continues to grow each year, increasing nearly 10% in both 2026 and 2025.
If you missed the race, mark your calendar for next year. The 39th running of the News and Sentinel Half Marathon will be Aug. 21, 2027. See you then.
Art Smith is co-director of the News and Sentinel Half Marathon, you can reach him at asmith@newsandsentinel.com