Saturday, May 23, 2015 • Owensboro, KY • Course Map
One of a series of local races organized by the Owensboro Parks & Recreation department — which also includes the city’s St. Patrick’s Day 10K & 5K as well as the “Holiday Hustle” 5K — the Owensboro Memorial Day Half Marathon takes runners on an out-and-back tour of the city, which lies along a bend in the Ohio River that divides Kentucky from Indiana to the north.
Runners start the loop course for the race on the campus of Kentucky Wesleyan College, a 150-year-old liberal arts college that educates roughly 800 students each year, and lies just south of the city’s downtown.
From there, runners head out on a counter-clockwise loop route that takes them southward through the city out into the rolling rural areas along Highway 431, a stretch that’s mostly flat for the first few miles.
The southernmost point of the race course brings runners along a U-shaped loop along what is known as the Martin Luther King Jr. Loop, which becomes J.R. Miller Boulevard as runners head northeast past the 5th mile marker on their way up to the right turn near the Wendell Ford Bypass.
Named for Wendell H. Ford, the former governor and U.S. senator from Kentucky, the road takes runners roughly half a mile up to the turn onto Higdon Road, where runners turn left and head north along Veach Road, where they’ll see the wide-open fairways of a golf course along either side of the road.
The next stretch takes runners up toward Legion Park and then back into the city, along tree-lined streets through residential neighborhoods, with turns on Ridgeway Drive, 27th Street, West 20th Street, Littlewood Drive and Griffith Avenue.
The only hilly stretch of the race occurs around the mile 8 marker, after which runners can expect largely flat terrain just like they’ve encountered earlier in the course.
Following the stretch along Griffith Avenue, there are a final few turns along Oxford Drive and Ford Avenue before runners then turn right and head onto Windsor Avenue for the race’s home stretch, which brings them back into campus for the race finish just a stone’s throw from the starting line area.
Runners will be expected to maintain a pace of under 14 minutes per mile — the finish line will close after 3 hours.
Race Weather & Climate
Nestled along the banks of the Ohio River in western Kentucky, just over 100 miles southwest of Louisville, Owensboro typically sees mild to moderately warm weather in May, which has brought record temperatures here as low as 31 degrees (in 1976) and as high as 96 degrees (in 1972).
On race day (May 23), the average low is 57ºF and the average high is 81ºF.
Past Results
- 2014 Owensboro Memorial Day Half Marathon Results
- 2013 Owensboro Memorial Day Half Marathon Results
- 2012 Owensboro Memorial Day Half Marathon Results
Course Map
See the race route map for the Owensboro Memorial Day Half Marathon here.
Starting Time
7:30 AM
Fees
- $50 for the half marathon, if registered by May 8, 2015
- $60 after May 8
Registration
To reserve your spot in the 2015 running of the Owensboro Memorial Day Half Marathon, register online at Active.com here.
Official Race Website
Facebook Conversations
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