The Flying Pig Half Marathon 6:30 a.m. start, Sunday, May 1, 2011Minimum age to participate on race day ( Sunday, May 1, 2011 ) is 14 years for the Flying Pig Half Marathon.
The half marathon will start at 6:30 a.m. on Sunday, May 1, 2011 , at the same time as the full marathon field. The two groups will run together for approximately nine miles, when the half marathon field will turn back toward downtown and end at the Marathon finish line along Yeatman's Cove.
Walkers are welcome in the half marathon.
Runner Amenities — All preregistered Half Marathon participants will receive a commemorative T-shirt, limited edition poster, goodie bag, and a "special gift." All Half Marathon finishers will receive a finisher's medal, a mylar blanket, and Finish-area refreshments. Finisher's certificates will be available here for downloading after the race.
Registration and packet pickup will be held Friday, April 29, 2011 from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday, April 30, 2011 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the P&G Health & Fitness Expo located at the Duke Energy Center, 525 Elm Street, Cincinnati, Ohio .
If there is one question asked more often than others about the Flying Pig Marathon, it's "Why a Flying Pig?" Even Greater Cincinnatians who cherish the pig, may not know it's storied past in the history of the Queen City.
In the 1800s, when riverboats plied the Ohio River, Cincinnati was a center of Western commerce. Since agriculture was a prime source of revenue in this area, boats filled with livestock and produce would dock in Cincinnati to sell their wares. Hogs were a major source of income for farmers here, as well, so pigs that were brought in by boat, or herded into town from area farms, were marched through the streets of Cincinnati to the processing plants. So many, in fact, that Cincinnati came to be known as "Porkopolis."
Fast forward to 1988, when Cincinnati celebrated its Bicentennial. To mark the occasion, the city decided to renovate its riverfront area to include a "Bicentennial Commons" park. Noted designer Andrew Leicester, was commissioned to design the commons, which was to reflect the city's past. When he submitted his plans, one signature feature caught everyone's attention: The entrance to Bicentennial Commons would be four smokestacks, for the city's riverboat heritage, with four flying pigs on top, reflecting, according to Leicester, the spirits of the pigs who gave their lives so that the city could grow.
After much outcry in City Council, who donned pig noses to debate whether the swine symbols would make the city the laughing stock of the country, the project was approved and the pigs became the signature sculpture of the new Cincinnati Riverfront.
In the mid-1990s, when a group of avid Cincinnati runners discussed starting a local marathon, the names "Queen City Marathon" and "River City Marathon" were discussed. But in the end, the only fitting name seemed to be one that continued to honor those popular pigs that once were ridiculed and now are celebrated. The "Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon" logo, bags and distinctive medals are prized possessions for runners around the country and, indeed around the world, leading Runner's World Magazine to call it the 'best named' marathon in the country!
http://www.flyingpigmarathon.com/
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