The ORRRC Xenia Marathon, Half-Marathon, and 10K are scenic, fast courses through the town of Xenia, Ohio! The race is a community tradition that has been going strong for over 50 years! Every year we learn and grow based on feedback from the previous year’s event and with that in …
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The ORRRC Xenia Marathon, Half-Marathon, and 10K are scenic, fast courses through the town of Xenia, Ohio! The race is a community tradition that has been going strong for over 50 years! Every year we learn and grow based on feedback from the previous year’s event and with that in mind we’re pleased to announce some upgrades to the event noted below. We hope you’ll run with us!
COURSE
The races run concentric paths, with the same start, turn-offs for the half-marathon and 10K, and the same finish line! The course starts at the Xenia YMCA, then runs into downtown Xenia before taking a tour of some of its neighborhoods, then using a mix of scenic rail-trail and neighborhood streets to get you home to the finish line! Our marathon course continues to be a certified Boston Qualifier event!
RACE SHIRTS
Same as last year, we’re taking a more environmentally friendly approach to our race shirts. Every participant will have the option to decline a race shirt when registering (we get it – sometimes there just isn’t room in the closet for another race shirt). If you decline a race shirt you will receive a $10 discount off your registration fee! However, if you do want a shirt we have an awesome (Carbon Free Certified) tri-blend shirt available in both unisex and women’s cuts.
CHARITABLE BENEFITS
The ORRRC is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, with a mission to encourage running and walking throughout the Miami Valley and Dayton region! This race supports us in that mission, by providing our all-volunteer organization with the funds to enable several youth running programs in the area, provide educational scholarships to deserving members of our running community, and to provide no/low-cost races to our members to remove fiscal barriers to fitness! We offer the ability for participants to make additional donations to the ORRRC Community & Scholarship fund through RunSignUp. 100% of additional donations made by participants will go towards the club’s support of youth running programs & educational scholarships.
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Good Local Race
The race was unlucky with the weather this year with cold rain before the start. Fortunately the race starts at the Xenia YMCA and runners could stay warm and dry … MORE
The race was unlucky with the weather this year with cold rain before the start. Fortunately the race starts at the Xenia YMCA and runners could stay warm and dry until the start, and there were real bathrooms. Both a huge plus for an enjoyable race day in less than ideal weather. Packet pickup was in the morning which I appreciate after doing several large races where pickup had to be done the day before. It was nice to enjoy a near hometown race without the logistical nightmares of large, destination races. After running Chicago and the Dopey Challenge I was savoring not having to be in corrals long before the race started.
Xenia is a small, quiet Ohio town on the bike trail, so scenery was standard Ohio. The course was fine with plenty of marshals and water tables, but very few spectators. It was a bit more rolling than I expected but not hilly. For a half marathon, I had no complaints, but I personally wouldn’t want to run this as a marathon unless running with a companion at a similar pace. I think it would be long and lonely for a middle of the pack marathoner.
The pancake breakfast was a nice touch.
Small race with good support
The course is relatively flat with some rolling hills throughout. No monster climbs, but far from a cakewalk. My only real issue with the race is that even though it … MORE
The course is relatively flat with some rolling hills throughout. No monster climbs, but far from a cakewalk. My only real issue with the race is that even though it was chip timed, they only reported gun times. I started near the back of the pack because I was hanging out with friends prior to the start and wasn’t concerned about gun time. Had I known, I would have started closer to the front. As a result, my official time is 35 seconds slower than my watch time. Several of us have inquired about this and they are looking into it, but be aware of that in the future. UPDATE: The timing company acknowledged the problem with reporting gun time instead of chip time and have fixed the issue.
ORRRC Xenia Half 2018
This was my second year running the ORRRC Half Marathon in Xenia. It is reasonably priced and well supported. I like the course and the post-race food this year was … MORE
This was my second year running the ORRRC Half Marathon in Xenia. It is reasonably priced and well supported. I like the course and the post-race food this year was great. I wasn’t as stoked about the finisher medal (it was rubber) or the shirt (not a fan of the color or this year’s logo). Last year’s shirt and medal were a lot nicer.
A great small town race!
This is a well organized, mostly flat, mostly open road and bike path, great race. There is a little crowd support, but it's mostly just you and your fellow runners … MORE
This is a well organized, mostly flat, mostly open road and bike path, great race. There is a little crowd support, but it’s mostly just you and your fellow runners being amazing. There are plenty of water/aid stations and restrooms along the way.
Great low fee race
This is great low budget race an a very flat course entry fee was only $35.00 an the food at the end an medal was fantastic an the scenery was … MORE
This is great low budget race an a very flat course entry fee was only $35.00 an the food at the end an medal was fantastic an the scenery was great lots of country an small town feel so if u want a low entry fee this is great race
How did they pull that off for $35?
Overall Rating: Outstanding...enough said! Course Difficulty: Flat and fast. Good mix of rural roads and paved rail trail. Course Scenery: Well, it's rural Ohio, so I wasn't expecting to see … MORE
Overall Rating: Outstanding…enough said!
Course Difficulty: Flat and fast. Good mix of rural roads and paved rail trail.
Course Scenery: Well, it’s rural Ohio, so I wasn’t expecting to see the Grand Canyon. They did the best they could with what they had.
Race Production: Flawless. I mean “WOW”, twice in one weekend. Started on time, race morning packet pick up was perfect, volunteers and aid stations were excellent, multiple course monitors and timing mats, free showers at YMCA afterward…just really impressive.
Race Swag: Great, sort of. Medal was really good, short sleeve race shirt was excellent, and there was a 50th anniversary finisher jacket for all marathon finishers (except they didn’t have my size, so my wife got a jacket this weekend…bummer for me).
My Performance: I have no idea. My knee was trashed from the day before, so I got to walk the whole thing (plenty of time to re-evaluate all of my life choices up to this point). I’ve always said that I would crawl across the finish line if I had to, but I said that thinking I would have run the 25 miles previous; walking an entire marathon was way harder than I gave credit for.
I could complain about the knee, or walking or a billion other things, but this was still a good day. I crossed the finish line with my son (who also completed the marathon) and a friend that we picked up along the way (who happened to be from a town I had visited in India), it was sunny and 70, and although there was a small number of racers and spectators, I experienced one of the best marathons I have participated in to date-and for only $35!
I said it while I was on the course, and I will say it here, this is a course I would love to run…I never really plan to repeat a race, but I am impressed!
I would encourage other RD’s to call this group and figure out how they did it…I’m pretty sure you can’t get all the stuff I received at wholesale prices for $35.