Harpeth Hills Flying Monkey Marathon
The Harpeth Hills Flying Monkey Marathon is a 26.2-mile (42.2 km) road race in Percy Warner Park, the larger of the Warner Parks in Nashville, Tennessee. It was created to be among the top five most difficult road marathons in the United States, and was designed to be somewhat anti-establishment and grassroots in character. In particular, the Harpeth Hills Flying Monkey Marathon is consciously not part of any running series and is neither certified nor sanctioned by the USATF, but is the standard 42.195 kilometres (26.219 mi) . A runner cannot use this race to qualify for the Boston Marathon. This marathon was initially dreamt up by a broad array of Middle Tennessee runners and was first described on an internet message board dedicated to Middle Tennessee runners. It has since been covered on numerous blogs. The original organizers included Trent Rosenbloom, The Nashville Striders, Peter Pressman, Diana Bibeau, and others.
The marathon was inaugurated on November 19, 2006, with 97 runners. In the inaugural running, the first place male runner finished in 2:50:25, and the first place female finisher in 3:11:05. The marathon's second running took place on November 18, 2007 with 174 runners from 29 states, two Canadian provinces, and one from Italy. In 2007, the overall male winner cut 4:50 off the course record by finishing in 2:45:35. In 2008, four runners broke the previous course record, when Ben Schneider set a new 9:10 minute course record by winning with 2:36:25 on a sunny 30–40 degree day. Ben had successes in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 when he returned to defend his title. In 2012, Olympic Trialist Leah Thorvilson became the first woman to break 3 hours on the course. The race is run in Percy Warner Park in Nashville, TN – one of the country's largest public city parks. It is one of the hardest road marathons in the country according to many runners, and has been named the best marathon in Tennessee.
The marathon starting and finishing line is located at 7601 Highway 100 South, Nashville, TN, 37221. Coordinates: 36°03′59″N 86°54′02″W / 36.066255°N 86.900418°W (36.066255, −86.900418).
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