The County Open second weekend of activities to compliment last week’s golfing tournament will be held Saturday with the half-marathon and half-marathon relay race in Island Falls.
The race will begin at the Island Falls Municipal Building. Registration is at 7 a.m. with the race beginning at 8 a.m.
The County Open Half Marathon is 13.1 miles and is USA TAC certified. It is a one-of-a-kind race for runners who vacation in, or live in Maine and New Brunswick.
The half-marathon may be run by an individual or be broken into two-person or four-person relay teams. Each runner will run 3.1 miles with the last runner finishing with 3.4 miles. The relay race is run on the same course and at the same time as The County Open Half-Marathon.
Due to the work being done on Interstate 95, the race course has been modified from years past. The half-marathon and half-marathon relay will be run much like the Island Falls Summerfest 5K/Walk that was last weekend.
Instead of the race traveling Route 2, it will be diverted more to the residential area of Island Falls.
Runners will be competing for a purse of $1,000 — first-place male and female, $200; second-place male and female, $150; third-place male and female, $100 and first-place male and female Masters, $50.
Each year, the race has steadily grown and it is hoped that this year that along with the familiar runners, new faces will be on the course, as well. Last year, 80 runners and 11 relay teams participated.
The race has been included in the Aroostook Musterds summer circuit promising a competitive race between runners from around the state of Maine and Eastern Canada.
Last year, P.J. Gorneault of Caribou won the half-marathon with a time of 1:12:23, followed by Nicholas Wheeler of Bangor, 1:15:44 and Evan Graves, 1:19:02. Sharon Hathway of Island Falls was the first female to finish with a time of 1:33:23, followed by Kristine Guaraldo of Brewer, 1:34:34 and third, Marie Beckum of Caribou, 1:36:05.
Winner of the Male Master Division was Leo Kashian of Caribou, 1:32:20 with Kim Wright of Presque Isle winning the Female Masters Division with a time of 1:42:47.
For more information on the Half Marathon/Relay, e-mail Jackie White, committee chairman, at jwhite@houltonregional.org .
