Hoptown Half Marathon & 5K
Hopkinsville, KY
- Half Marathon, 5K
- Road (Paved)
- Official race website
The annual Hoptown Half Marathon & 5K is a joint road race through Hopkinsville, KY. The certified Half Marathon course course winds through downtown Hopkinsville, residential areas, through beautiful Christian County countryside and returns to finish downtown on our popular new Greenway/Rail Trail. The Half Marathon course also includes the … MORE
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Simple race in small town Kentucky
This is a small race put on by the Hopkinsville Parks and Rec Department. Packet pickup is a few people behind some tables who give you a bib and your … MORE
This is a small race put on by the Hopkinsville Parks and Rec Department.
Packet pickup is a few people behind some tables who give you a bib and your shirt- no expo. It’s not a bad thing, just don’t expect anything fabulous.
The half had about 160 participants.
You start downtown and run through pretty nice neighborhoods for about 4 miles. Aside from one small block, the entire four miles are down the same road (Main street that heads out of town). After those four miles, you turn onto a country road that curves and has plenty of rolling hills. The next almost three miles on this road is either farmland or great big homes.
Now this is half way through the race. When I was at 3 miles, I could see 4 or 5 people about a quarter mile ahead of me and 1 or 2 at least that far behind me (and I am running 7:50 pace or so). Additionally, there are almost no spectators on the course so you very well can run by yourself for most of the race.
After turning off the farm road, you are on a 2 lane highway headed back into town for just under 2 miles. More rolling hills. The uneasy part is you are running down the right side of the road with no separation from traffic. None of cars that passed did so at a crazy speed, and there are local cops roaming the course with their lights flashing, but running the first 9 miles like this causes you to pay more attention to your surroundings.
Right about mile 9 you enter the city’s greenway and you are on this until about mile 12.5. This is flat except for a BIG bridge near the end of mile 10 that hurt me for a good half a mile. But the greenway is gorgeous and mostly straight.
You come off the greenway and do just over a half mile through downtown to the finish. There is one more hill to get up before running downhill and finishing strong.
There are plenty of water stations along the course. Two of them had gatorade. Due to the small size of the race field, each water station is 2-3 people.
The medal is better than average. The shirt…. no so much, but a lot better than the year before.
The post race party has a team cooking pancakes for everyone which is nice.
The weather this year was perfect. Middle of October in Kentucky it was about 40 at the start (8am) and 57 or so when I finished.
This is a local race for me and I will run it again if other races don’t take me out of town.
Great little race through Hopkinsville
Fun little 5K where us 40 and 50 years old dominated. I finished 16th overall and had 8 40/50 year old ahead of me. It's slightly hilly but in a … MORE
Fun little 5K where us 40 and 50 years old dominated. I finished 16th overall and had 8 40/50 year old ahead of me.
It’s slightly hilly but in a good way. Perfect time of year.
Age groups are 5 years which is awesome for such a small race.
Usually the shirt is pretty nice but this year it was not…. going straight to the t shirt blanket pile.
Will definitely run again.
Great morning!
Great race with amazing weather and awesome scenery! Hills are somewhat of a challenge but I finished with a personal best. The race organizers were spectacular to work with. MORE
Great race with amazing weather and awesome scenery! Hills are somewhat of a challenge but I finished with a personal best. The race organizers were spectacular to work with.