The 28th Flying Pig Marathon delivered the rarest combination on Sunday: an old course record erased and a hometown winner on top of the women's podium. Zach Kreft, a 26-year-old from Sunbury, Ohio, won the men's race in 2:17:40 to take 2:44 off Cecil Franke's 2006 course record of 2:20:24, while Cincinnati native Katherine Hallahan won the women's title in 2:48:43. Run on 3 May around the Ohio River bend and through downtown Cincinnati, the race weekend also set a participation record, with 45,197 runners registered across the marathon, half marathon, 10K, 5K and Friday-evening 4-Way Challenge.
Kreft's run was a methodical demolition rather than a dramatic late surge. He sat in the lead pack through the first 10 miles, dropped clear of last year's champion Joel Hubbard on the long climb up Eden Park between miles seven and eight, and never gave the field a sniff of him after that. The split to halfway was 1:08:25, slightly ahead of record pace, and he held an even effort through the closing 10K despite a stiff headwind off the river. It is Kreft's fourth marathon win, after victories at the Columbus, Cleveland and Air Force marathons, and his first under 2:20.
Hallahan, who finished second on the same course in 2023, used a familiar Flying Pig tactic: settle behind the pack on the bridges, hammer the climbs in Mariemont, then pick off tiring runners through Hyde Park. She entered the lead with about six miles to run and finished 1:42 clear of runner-up Hannah Roeder of Indianapolis. "I've grown up running this race," Hallahan said at the line. "Winning at home, with my parents at mile 25, is the best feeling I've had in this sport." She also won the Queen Bee Half Marathon in 2023 and is now a two-time Pig Works champion.
The participation numbers are arguably the most consequential figure to come out of the weekend. The 45,197 entries beat the previous Flying Pig high of 43,127 set in 2018 and reflect the same post-Boston bounce that the Pittsburgh Marathon enjoyed on the same Sunday. Race officials credited the 28th-anniversary marketing push, an expanded shuttle programme that opened up parking in Northern Kentucky and a new "Pig Pen" charity entry channel that drew large groups from corporate teams in Cincinnati and Dayton. The marathon's charity total of more than $4.6 million is the highest of any Cincinnati endurance event.
Course-record bonuses pushed Kreft's prize total to $7,500, and the Flying Pig has already opened registration for 2027, which will be the marathon's 29th edition on 2 May 2027. With Cleveland on 17 May still to come and the Hoosier State summer racing circuit warming up, Kreft is using Cincinnati as a platform rather than a peak. Hallahan, by contrast, said she will not race another marathon until the Indianapolis Monumental in November, where she intends to chase the 2:43 standard required for the 2028 US Olympic Trials.