The 2026 Flying Pig Marathon follows a new route.
The previous course used a bridge that's no longer there. The race crossed the Veterans Memorial Bridge, which was demolished in early March to make way for a replacement. That new bridge won’t be finished until 2028.
What's changed?
Pig Works President and CEO Doug Olberding says now, the race travels further south to cross the 11th Street Bridge, from Newport to Covington over the Licking River.
"That adds a little bit over a mile on the Kentucky side, which means we have to shave off a mile on the Ohio side," he says. "Which sounds easy, but it's not."
To accommodate the detour, racers won't head into Queensgate, as they have in previous years. Instead, after crossing the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge, they'll turn right to Vine Street, and head to 7th Street.
"Once they get to 7th Street, the course is mostly the same with a few little distance changes in Mariemont," Olberding says. "But we'll still go around Mariemont Square. We just have to pick up a little distance over there. The Half (marathon) turn-around at DeSales Corner is going to look a little bit different, but we have to pick up a little bit of distance in Walnut Hills."
Organizers were awaiting certification for the half-marathon as of Monday afternoon.
Olberding says changing the course is not an easy process, but it's sometimes necessary.
"We don't have a stadium. Our venue is the public right-of-way. We have no control over what happens on the public right-of-way," he says. "We know that with the I75 bridge corridor project, that we are going to have to do this every year, I think we're thinking until 2030."
The May 3 race is a qualifier for the Boston Marathon. It flows through six communities: Cincinnati, Newport, Covington, Fairfax, Columbia Township and Mariemont.
Read more:
