Virginia Beach Oceanfront will be celebrating its 19th year of Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon event

For the 19th time in Virginia Beach, runners will have the opportunity to leave their earbuds at home and listen to live music while jogging along the oceanfront.

The Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon weekend begins at 7 a.m. Saturday with a 5-kilometer race and new 1-mile event at 8:15 a.m. that’s been moved off the sand and onto the boardwalk.

But for those who pass on pure speed, the 13.1-mile main event begins at 6:30 a.m. Sunday at 14th Street and Pacific Avenue, ringing in September with plenty of guitars and melodies as numerous bands and musicians line the course that treks south down General Booth Boulevard before turning back up toward the oceanfront.

The Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon weekend also coincides with the Chartway Federal Credit Union American Music Festival at the oceanfront.

Forty-nine states and 12 countries are represented among the running event’s participants, with ages spanning 12 years old at the youngest and 81 the oldest.

Runners will have four hours to complete the mostly flat 13.1-mile course, but the elite pack that kicks off the event usually finishes within 90 minutes.

Last year, top male finisher Mike Morgan clocked in at 1 hour, 8 minutes, 45 seconds and Mary Schneider finished in 1:24:17.

posted Saturday August 31st
by Ray Nimmo