Flying Pig Marathon Top 10 Moments of the last 22 years
The Flying Pig weekend powered by P&G has been moved from its usual first weekend in May to October 9-11 in conjunction with the Queen Bee Half Marathon and Medpace 4 Miler.
While we won’t have formal Flying Pig events on May 1-3, more than 5,000 runners and walkers are completing their virtual Flying Pigs this spring. To commemorate what would have been the 22nd running of the Flying Pig, here’s a countdown of the Top 10 Moments leading up to the May 3 Marathon date:
#10
The Flying Pig Marathon named the best marathon in the country for 2020. Earlier this year the Flying Pig Marathon was voted the #1 marathon in the country by RaceRaves! The Flying Pig also took home awards for Top 10 Best Themed Race in the U.S., Top 10 Best Weekend Experience in the U.S., and the Green Lion Award, an award given to races committed to expanding and maintaining their sustainability efforts.
#9
Amy Robillard dominates the women’s marathon. In 2011 Amy Robillard started a streak where she won every Flying Pig event she entered. Starting with wins in the half marathon in 2011 and 2012, the jumped to the full marathon with wins back to back in 2014 and 2015 before jumping back to the half marathon in 2016. Also in 2016, she represented our area at the U.S. Olympic Marathon trials in Los Angeles.
#8
Sergio Reyes, back-to-back-to-back (and more) champion. Reyes, of Palmdale, California, first burst upon the Flying Pig scene with a 2009 win in the Marathon that was only :12 off the event record. He returned to win again in 2012, 2013, 2014 and in 2016, becoming the only five-time Flying Pig Marathon champion.
#7
The 20th anniversary Flying Pig Marathon powered by P&G celebrated a record crowd, 43,127 for total weekend participation, an almost 13% increase from 2017, representing all 50 states and 22 countries. The event was highlighted by wins by Aaron Viets of Cedarburg, Wisconsin and former Cincinnatian Caitlin Keen. Caitlin, a former Hyde Park resident now living in Fort Worth, said growing up, she watched the Flying Pig Marathon on television and when it went past her house and dreamed about winning it one day. She did, in only her second career marathon and first Pig.
#6
Fire on mile 22. On May 4, 2008, the Flying Pig was celebrating its last day of its 10th anniversary running with a record crowd when an early morning fire along Mile 22 of the course forced last-minute changes and created a marathon to remember. The fire forced organizers and police to re-route the course so runners would go around the fire. Quick action by city officials made the change as effortless as possible and resulted in only about a 10 minute delay to the start of the Marathon.
#5
Amazing turnout after the Boston Marathon bombings. The 2013 Boston Marathon bombing happened less than two weeks before the Flying Pig events. Pig organizers didn’t know if the bombing would scare people away from participating. Instead, the opposite happened. Many Flying Pig events reached capacity because of a last-minute rush of registrations. Flying Pig participants donated $50,000 to the One Fund Boston, wrote notes of support at the Expo and purchased #BostonStrong shirts and bracelets, with proceeds going to the bombing victims.
#4
The amazing comeback of Alison Bedingfield Delgado. The 2005 winner of the Flying Pig Marathon suffered a traumatic head injury from a horrific bicycle accident in 2010 that nearly claimed her life. After not knowing whether she would live, much less run again, Alison recovered to place third in the 2011 Tri-State Running Company 5K. Later she would place third in the 2015 Flying Pig and win the 2018 Tri-State Running Company 5K.
#3
Bridesmaid no more: Kerry Lee finally wins. In 2017, after coming in second or third in the Flying Pig Marathon for the previous six years, the seventh time proved to be the charm for Anderson High School cross country coach Kerry Lee, who finally won the women’s division of the 19th annual Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon. Lee, who won in a time of 2:53:55, came in second the previous year as well as in 2015, 2013 and 2011. She was third in the women’s field in 2012 and 2014.
#2
Cecil Franke sets the record. Cecil Franke had a distinguished high school and college running career, including the 1986 Indiana High School Athletic Association 3200 meter state title at Jac-Cen-Del and school records at Ball State University. He has run Boston, run the 2007 Olympic Marathon Trials, won at Columbus and won the Flying Pig Marathon in 2006, the second marathon he had ever run in a time of 2:20:25, an event record that still stands.
#1
First Flying Pig debuts in 1999. Fresh off starting his Paycor payroll processing company in 1990, Bob Coughlin, himself a runner, had the vision in 1997 to organize the board of what eventually would become the Flying Pig Marathon. In two years of planning, the board developed the Flying Pig Marathon with more than 6,000 participants at the starting line in May of 1999. The event has grown to more than 40,000 weekend from all 50 states and more than two dozen countries, with more than $16 million donated to charity over the last 22 years.