Mangum Marathon & Half Marathon
Ellerbe, NC
- Marathon, Half Marathon
- Road (Paved)
- Official race website
Kick off the year with one of North Carolina’s most challenging and rewarding road races — the annual Mangum Marathon & Half Marathon! The course starts at the Dog Pen — out in the boondocks just outside Ellerbe, NC — and delivers quiet roads, long stretches of solitude, and one … MORE
Local Historical Weather (Jan 16):
| 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | |
| H (°F) | 46 | 55 | 43 | 57 | 37 |
| L (°F) | 16 | 17 | 31 | 24 | 29 |
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NC's Hidden Gem
I was *shocked* this race wasn't already listed on RaceRaves, and then realized "oh yeah, it's still an undiscovered gem, of course it's not on an international website yet". I … MORE
I was *shocked* this race wasn’t already listed on RaceRaves, and then realized “oh yeah, it’s still an undiscovered gem, of course it’s not on an international website yet”. I feel like a traitor exposing this race to the world, but it was also so much fun and so well run, real ones should know about it.
This was the 6th running of this race and through the magic of social media and Carolina runners enjoying a discount, it *exploded* across run groups the week of the race. I saw it posted on 50 States on Tuesday and was shocked to see the half marathon was only $35 (!) and the marathon was $45 (!!). In 2026. And the race included a really solid quarter zip jacket and a finisher’s medal. I texted my husband and was like “….?” and he was like “…!”. So, we signed up.
No Facebook page, but the run signup page has tons of good info and the RD emailed us two times before the race and once after. He emailed us on Wed of the race to share his amazement that the race was exploding like it was (seriously, two years ago my age group (40-49 in the half marathon) had zero finishers, last year it had two, this year it had ten) and promising that if anybody didn’t get a jacket on Saturday he’d have more made and mailed AT NO COST TO THE RUNNER. The other emails were about free gifts at Friday night packet pickup and a follow up a couple days after the race.
We drove up the morning of the race (2.5 hours), so I can’t speak to the towns around the race location and their hotels or food.
The race location is a GPS/phone dead zone, so put the GPS coordinates in your car’s GPS system while you’re still in civilization and take screenshots of the written directions on how to get to the race start/finish line. I had reception pop up a bit once I was on the road during the race (push notifications started coming through when I pulled my phone out to take a picture), but it wasn’t reliable. So keep that in mind if you access music live or need to be contacted or plan on being tracked.
The race literally starts at an intersection. No parking lot, no buildings, just park on the side of the road and there you are. One portajohn this year (which was a huge deal), they’re hoping to get two for 2027 if more people sign up early. So, if you need to go, plan to do it behind your car or stop off before you get to the race site. The portajohn was fine, but the race started 15 minutes late b/c the RD was waiting for everyone to finish using it. Very generous of him, but it was also in the high 60s and high humidity, so 15 minutes is a long delay for a half and full marathon.
It’s very much a lowkey family affair – the RD manned the start/finish, his wife was at the marathon halfway point, and their son’s girlfriend was helping at the finish by taking pictures.
Oh yeah, free race photos! We have pictures from mile 2 and the finish line.
The course is HILLY. I’ll include the elevation chart – I did the half, so it’s out and back 6.6ish miles, which means it’s the marathon mile start-6.5 and then mile 20-26.2. I’ve been aggressively hill training for four months now since I’m doing Flying Pig (4 way with extra cheese) and Hatfield and McCoy this summer and want to survive the hills. This was a great test to see how the training is going as well as a real make or break moment. I made it, others broke, but we all had fun.
Bring your own supplies – I was fine with the half b/c there was a pile of water bottles at mile 4 (literally, just packs of water that were dropped on the side of the road), a water table with cups at mile 6.6, and then that same pile of water bottles at mile 8.6 (halfway up the hill, I was NOT stopping), and then the finish line. But if you’re doing the full, absolutely bring your own hydration. No gatorade, the RD was generous and supplied GUs and asked that everyone only grab two. I didn’t need them, so I left mine on the table for anyone else who may have needed them at mile 20. IDK what the hydration looked like for the marathoners, but they do share that on the website or the RD can absolutely answer it.
Vibe was good – everyone was supportive on the out and back and lots of people took their time on the course/got their money’s worth. Which is fun, not every race has to be a sprint. Nobody came out to watch/cheer, minimal traffic but the road is open, and I was alone for several miles at the end. (My husband hasn’t been hill training, so I left him during the big climbs at the end – thankfully he was super cool with it and finished a few minutes after me)
I managed to place third female OVERALL and first in my age group with a 2:05 finish. It was incredible and I’m still in shock. No podium, just age group awards and overall finisher awards. So, of course, the only time I’ll ever podium and there wasn’t anything (lollollollollol). I mean, except for the satisfaction of hard work and getting to spend 13.1 miles in the pines of central NC.
Do this race while you can, they had a HUGE section of land cleared near the start and I’m terrified it’s going to be a neighborhood (the location isn’t close enough to the interstate to be a plant, so I’m thinking housing). Finding rural road races in the South is increasingly difficult due to the population boom.