The last runner to finish a full Outer Banks Marathon crossed the line at Fort Raleigh in November 2023. In 2024 there was a half marathon but no full. In 2025 there was no race weekend at all. On Sunday, Nov. 8, the TowneBank Outer Banks Marathon goes off at 7 a.m. from Fort Raleigh National Historic Site, which makes it the first full 26.2 on the Outer Banks in three years.
The race now starts and finishes on Roanoke Island, and it runs only when the government agencies that control its roads and parks are all available.
Four Years, Four Different Races
For most of its history, the marathon ran across the beach towns. A 2018 description in Outer Banks This Week traced the full course from Kitty Hawk Woods through Bay Drive, past the Wright Memorial, through Nags Head Woods and by Jockey's Ridge, then over the causeway to a finish in downtown Manteo. Then the route started changing almost every year.
| Year | Full marathon | Half marathon | What decided it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Ran from Fort Raleigh over the Manns Harbor Bridge and back | Same Roanoke Island course | Organizers moved the race to a new course |
| 2024 | Canceled | Moved to Wright Brothers Memorial, north to Kitty Hawk | NCDOT closed a bridge on the course |
| 2025 | Canceled | Canceled | Federal government shutdown |
| 2026 | Fort Raleigh start and finish through Manteo | Same Roanoke Island course | Scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 8 |
The 2023 race was the first year the full and half marathons crossed the Manns Harbor Bridge, and The Outer Banks Voice reported that just under 800 runners finished. A northeast wind and rain showers made it a hard morning, and the bridge was the hardest part. Dillon Pope of Kill Devil Hills, who won the half, told the Voice that the run out was fine. "Coming back, it was like a brick wall," he said. Outer Banks Sporting Events Executive Director Debbie Luke was happy with how the new route was received. "Nobody complained about the course, which was phenomenal," she told the paper.
The organizers didn't get to repeat it. In 2024, Outer Banks Sporting Events posted that NCDOT had closed the bridge that was part of the course. The group said it had worked on other routes but the county approved none of them, so it canceled the full marathon and moved the half to a new route in Kill Devil Hills and Kitty Hawk. That year's half started and finished at the Wright Brothers Memorial and ran north along the sound and back down the multipurpose path, according to the Voice's 2024 preview.
What Canceled 2025 Was Never the Course
The full weekend was set for Nov. 8–9, 2025. On Nov. 4, Outer Banks Sporting Events canceled every event: the Fun Run, 5K, 8K, half, full and expo. The organizers' statement, published by The Outer Banks Voice, said the ongoing government shutdown left them without access to the government officials needed on site and for road closures, and without the crowd control a safe event requires.
The race's geography explains why. Both of its start lines sit on National Park Service ground. Saturday's races start at Wright Brothers National Memorial at 1000 N. Croatan Highway in Kill Devil Hills, and Sunday's start at Fort Raleigh at 1401 National Park Drive in Manteo. Once the race was built around those two parks, its calendar depended on Washington as much as on the Outer Banks.
This fall has already tested that once. The Park Service closed visitor facilities at Fort Raleigh and Wright Brothers by noon on Oct. 17 because of weather. In an operational update, it announced both parks would reopen at 9 a.m. on Oct. 19.
Saturday Stays in Kill Devil Hills
The weekend opens Friday, Nov. 6, with the expo and packet pickup from 1 to 7 p.m. at Ramada Plaza Nags Head Oceanfront. Saturday's races are all at Wright Brothers National Memorial:
- 7:30 a.m., Surf Pediatrics Surf & Soar 8K. Runners circle the memorial, head out to Colington Road, continue to First Street, come back, and run the first loop again before finishing at the memorial.
- 7:45 a.m., 5K. Held at the memorial and the park around it.
- 8 a.m., COLOR Fun Run. Also at the memorial.
Saturday parking is at the First Flight school complex across the highway. Runners who sign up for the Challenge run the 5K or 8K on Saturday and a Sunday race for an extra medal, so some of the people in Kill Devil Hills that morning will be at Fort Raleigh the next.
Sunday Is Roanoke Island's Morning
The full marathon starts at 7 a.m. and the Southern Fried Half Marathon at 7:15 a.m., both at Fort Raleigh. On the official course page, the route goes through the village of Manteo along the sound side of Roanoke Island and finishes back at Fort Raleigh. Runners must stay on the multiuse path or risk disqualification. That rule is written for their safety and for the safety of people who aren't in the race.
For anyone who lives near the course, the useful numbers are the start times and the time limits. The organizers' FAQ sets a four-hour limit for the half and six hours for the full. With the half starting at 7:15 and the full at 7, the last half marathoners should be finished by about 11:15 a.m. and the last full marathoners by about 1 p.m.
What to know before you head out Sunday:
- Parking: Race parking is at Manteo Elementary, Manteo Middle and Manteo High schools and at COA. There is no parking at Fort Raleigh.
- Watching: Spectators can watch at the finish, and organizers suggest arriving early for a good spot.
- The party: The post-race celebration starts at 9:30 a.m. at the entrance to The Lost Colony, with Southern-style barbecue, chowder, beer and entertainment. Barbecue is free for runners, and the beer garden is for guests 21 and older.
- On the course: Water stops come roughly every 2 to 2.5 miles, with Gatorade and GU gels at each one and portable toilets next to every stop.
- Not allowed: Dogs, strollers and headphones are not permitted on the course, and the minimum age is 16.
If you're more likely to stand at the finish than run, the 2023 results give a sense of how the morning plays out. That year Andrew Catanese of Palo Alto, California, won the full in 2:34:03.9, a 5:52-per-mile pace, and the second-place man finished 27 minutes after him. Jennifer Haiducek of Durham won the women's race in 3:09:06.5. Put those times next to the six-hour limit and you get more than three hours of full-marathon finishers coming in after the winner, while the post-race celebration is going on at The Lost Colony.
Why Fort Raleigh Is a Better Home Than It Looks
Outer Banks Sporting Events partners with local nonprofits, which receive donations from the race. The 2024 preview put expected turnout at up to 800 runners for the whole weekend, from as far away as Canada and from every state but four. Most of the work behind an event that size happens before race day, and the weekend still needs volunteers through the organizers' sign-up page.
The old beach-town route crossed several jurisdictions on the way from Kitty Hawk to Manteo. The current one starts and ends at one federal site and stays on Roanoke Island's multiuse path. That makes it a simpler race to stage. The past three years also showed that it still needs a bridge, a county route approval and a federal workforce to happen. On Nov. 7 and 8 all three are in place, and the full marathon is back on Roanoke Island for the first time since 2023.
If race weekend has you looking at Roanoke Island or the central beaches more closely, whether that's a soundside street along Sunday's course or a home close to Wright Brothers National Memorial, Shane Collins The Obx Island Guys Team can show you how these blocks work the other 51 weekends of the year. Work With Us.
