Nebraska State Fair Half Marathon

Grand Island, Nebraska

Saturday, August 24, 2019



Saturday, August 24, 2019 was not a very nice day to do the Nebraska Sate Fair Half Marathon in Grand Island, Nebraska.  The temperature varied from 67 to 70 degrees with continuous drizzle and light rain with a 10-15 mph wind.  The weather forecast called for an 80% chance of rain and thunder storms causing the race director to announce before the race that if thunder storms showed up, the race would be immediately cancelled.  Fortunately thunder storms did not occur until after the event had finished.  The course began and ended in the State Fair Grounds and was scheduled to utilize 3.5 miles of roadways and the rest paved bike paths; however, one mile of the bike paths needed to be changed because of flooding due to the extreme amount of rain that the area has been experiencing.  In fact most of the area streams were flooding many of the surrounding fields.  Police and volunteers were utilized at all of the intersections, including the places were the bike paths crossed the roadway.  Volunteers that were mostly junior and senior high school students in rain gear or under umbrellas were stationed at every place where the 186, 352, and 120 participants in the 5K, half marathon and full marathon respectively directing the participants to stay on the proper path.  There were also signage at all of these places.  Water/Gatorade stations were located approximately every 2 miles and had numerous dedicated friendly efficient volunteers taking care of the needs of the participants.  This is the second straight year that I have done this well-organized event and placed third in my running age group even though I race walked the entire way.  Each participant gets a complementary ticket to the State Fair.  Last year I used mine and enjoyed attending.  This year because of the rain that continued throughout the day, I decided that I would not attend.

Packet Pick-up

Before The Race

After The Race