Ocean Beach John & Jessie Kelley Half Marathon
New London, CT
- Half Marathon
- Road (Paved)
- Official race website
Connecticut’s Oldest Shoreline Road Race! The Ocean Beach John & Jessie Kelley Half Marathon is run over a well marked/supported road course with panoramic vistas of Long Island Sound and rural roads in the City of New London and Town of Waterford. Starting and finishing at Beautiful Ocean Beach Park. … MORE
Local Historical Weather (Aug 02):
| 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | |
| H (°F) | 83 | 76 | 83 | 79 | 80 |
| L (°F) | 71 | 57 | 70 | 60 | 70 |
Find Nearby Lodging (hotel, rental, etc.):
Hilly and Hot!
This was a very unicorn race. First - It is by application only - you must check and register when the applications open (about 6 months before). The race is … MORE
This was a very unicorn race. First – It is by application only – you must check and register when the applications open (about 6 months before). The race is capped at 1000 (I think). There is no entry fee, although a donation of pantry food is asked to be brought to the start of the race for the local United Way. Personally – I thought this was a great thing. It looked like tons of food was donated. Along with no entry fee comes no swag. Shirts were available to purchase the morning of the race at cost. They weren’t that great but reasonably priced. Also, the medal was just ok. No packet pickup – just arrive an hour before the race starts to get your bib. The race starts at a beach pavilion with lots of parking. The only problem is that it was about 20 minutes from any hotels – so a car is a must. I flew into Providence, RI and it was about an hour drive to New London. The course was HILLY. Usually when you go up a hill you come back down but not in this race. It seemed to be all up hill untill the last 3 miles which weren’t marked well and ran through a busy town on a Saturday morning. The towns people were very accommodating and patient. No crowd support and although there were enough water stations – the water was warm but I understand because of the very hot and humid temperatures. We ran by the water/bay/ocean for just a minute. I also saw no after party but my hotel (the Holiday Inn) was a jerk and wouldn’t give me an extended checkout so when I got my medal – I had to keep going to the car. The race didn’t start until 8:00 – which is too late for an August race. If you need Connecticut and are used to the heat – this race is ok – but don’t expect too much.
free, hot, nice people and scenery!
Great communication, easy parking, easy bib pickup. No shirt, but get a finisher medal. Started on time....Was super hot and humid, many people overheated. The 1st half of race wonderful … MORE
Great communication, easy parking, easy bib pickup. No shirt, but get a finisher medal. Started on time….Was super hot and humid, many people overheated. The 1st half of race wonderful scenery, second half was ok. The amount of people supporting this race was incredible. It is what kept me going and smiling. They were all out on every corner and block! Offering water, sprinklers and hose to cool us off. Holding up signs and just cheering for us! This is what made it awesome, met some real nice people. Finisher food was banana, popcorn, soda, water, small bowl of clam chowder. I did get some, but felt bad for many runners because they literally ran out of everything and still had about 50 runners to come in. They had water left, warm. The volunteers didn’t know what to do. It looked like many runners had their families helping themselves. Anyway, I enjoyed it, and another state off my list!