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 01):
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | |
| H (°F) | 75 | 87 | 79 | 74 | 74 |
| L (°F) | 60 | 72 | 61 | 70 | 55 |
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Can't Beat the Price
This is a free race in CT where all they ask is that you donate food for a food drive. This is an awesome concept and while obviously it doesn't … MORE
This is a free race in CT where all they ask is that you donate food for a food drive. This is an awesome concept and while obviously it doesn’t have the frills of a more expensive race, it is a great race for free. The race is capped at 1000 runners and it fills up quickly. Not you have to register the second it opens quickly but it will be filled in a few days so if you want to do this race, mark the registration date on your calendar. There was frequent pre-race communication. One thing a couple friends of mine didn’t like was the language used in the emails. The emails requested people to drop out if not planning to do the race to give the slots to people on the wait list. There is no problem with this but the language they used was this race is for “serious runners only.” One of my friends was walking the race and another was a slow runner and they both felt a bit intimidated by the emails. However the race has a 4 hour time limit so it is completely walkable. Maybe it should be rephrased as this race is for “Runners and Walkers serious about this race.” I digress as everything else was clear in the emails. The race takes place by the Beach in New London, CT. This is very close to Mystic so it’s a fun place for a weekend getaway or a short vacation. I stayed at the Holiday Inn in New London which was a quick drive to the race. There was plenty of parking and race day packet pickup. There is no shirt just a bib which is fine because it is free. The race had a mass start since it isn’t a huge field. It is chip timed which is great for a free race. The race itself is fine. It is obviously an excellent course for the price but there aren’t a lot of frills. It is well marked but all on open roads. Some of the markings are chalk (it depends on the town what they allow for markings) so you need to pay a bit of attention but you don’t have to pay that close of attention. The weather can be very hot but luckily today was a rare gorgeous New England summer day. I really liked the first half of the course. It was more coastal and through nice neighborhoods. It was on quiet roads with minimal traffic and you could run on the shoulder of the road without worry. It was also quite scenic. I wasn’t as big of a fan of the second half of the course as you had to go to the side walk and the streets were busy and it was a lot of chain stores and less scenic. I’m not the biggest fan of running on the sidewalk but I get it’s a free race so they get a pass. The course is rather hilly and I’d say above average in difficulty but not terrible and typical for New England. There were adequate aid stations with water and electrolyte. No official nutrition on course which I assumed based on the race being free and brought some honey stinger chewables with me. There were course marshals at all the busiest intersections. They weren’t everywhere and there was the occasional part of the course you may need to stop for a car to pass but for a free race with a lot of road crossings they did a good job. There were also mile markers but sometimes it was just chalk on the ground. I ran-walked this one with one of my friends so was slower than usual but had a fun time. There were no major issues being in the back of the pack. They did start to pack up aid stations but they never abandoned them completely. The finish area was nice and you get an excellent medal for a free race. It has a really nice design and is good size and quality. It’s not the biggest, fanciest medal I’ve ever seen but it’s nice. I was expected a medal with a sticker or a wooden medal so I was very happy with it. There was water at the end. I believe there was food (clam chowder?) but since I was a little slower than expected I needed to leave right away for lunch plans so didn’t scope it out. Overall this was an excellent race for free. If you take away the fact that it was free and compare to other half marathons it is average-slightly above average and it is better than some half marathons I’ve paid a lot more money for. If you like the idea of a free race and want to support a local community event I definitely would recommend this race as long as you can deal with some heat, some hills and some sidewalk running. There are also limited races in CT with 4 hour time limits so I definitely recommend it if you need a 4 hour time limit. If you are faster and you want a race with more frills you are better off with a race produced by Hartford Marathon Foundation but I don’t recommend them for back of packers. I would definitely return to do this race again. It made for a very fun weekend and I definitely recommend doing the nearby Sunflower 6K the day after if they are the same weekend again.
Ocean and hills
Great race...it fills up quickly so keep an eye on registration especially since it's free...it's a fundraiser for a local food bank. Course is hilly about40% of it. Mile 10 … MORE
Great race…it fills up quickly so keep an eye on registration especially since it’s free…it’s a fundraiser for a local food bank. Course is hilly about40% of it. Mile 10 was a struggle. No street closing…there will be traffic!!oat drivers are respectful. It is in the middle of summer so practice running in heat. We lucked up and the weather cooled to 61° and 71° by the end of the race. Post race banana and really good clam chowder!
Bring a swimsuit and umbrella and hang out on the beach post race with the locals..the water is great for tired legs.
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!