Hagerstown's new downtown stadium isn't just for baseball.
It attracts runners, too.
There were over 300 entrants for the inaugural Hub City Half Marathon, which started and finished Sunday at Meritus Park, home of the Hagerstown Flying Boxcars.
The race was put on by the Washington County Running Festival, and it exceeded expectations, said Gwenn Leatherman, president of the nonprofit organization.
"Everyone has been so supportive. The community, the volunteers, the vendors and our sponsors have been amazing," she said. "The goal was to bring the half marathon here, and the additional goal is to be part of the downtown revitalization project. When we talked about where we were going to have it, of course, we were going to have it here. This is an amazing location."
She said the Hub City Half will be an annual event.
"Ken Racine (owner of the Racine MultiSports race management company) said that if we have 300 this year that next year we'll have 600 or 1,000," Leatherman said. "Look at the Frederick Half, they pull in thousands of people every year. That's sort of what sparked it. My daughter and I did the Frederick Half in 2023, and then we didn't do it last year due to life things. I was like, 'Man, I'm sad that we didn't do it.' And then I thought, 'Why don't we just have one in Hagerstown?'"
The 13.1-mile race took runners through Rose Hill Cemetery, Marty Snook Park and Hagerstown City Park. The final 500 feet of the course were inside Meritus Park.
Jonah Smith, 27, of Smithsburg, was the first to reach the finish line, winning the men's title by a comfortable margin in 1 hour, 17 minutes and 23.2 seconds.
"They put on a really good event, and it was really fun to finish on the field," he said.
Smith took the lead early and never relinquished it.
"You never know who's going to show up," he said. "There are people who aren't from around here. But I was trying to win. That was my goal today.
"It was hillier than I expected. I slowed down a little bit because the hills got to me, but I still felt strong pretty much throughout."
Michael Schumacher, 22, of Hagerstown, finished second in 1:18:11.6, and Canadian Brad Bergin, 28, of Calgary, took third in 1:19:36.5.
The women's title was won by Alexis Twigg, 21, of Clearville, Pa., in 1:32:43.3. She said it was her first road race.
"I did cross country and track in school, but I had a back injury so I had to quit for a while. And then I got back into it in the last two years," she said.
On Sunday, Twigg took the lead for good around mile 7.
"I went out a lot faster than I expected, but I was like, 'You know what, just hold on and run the mile that you're in, and you can stick with it,'" she said. "I just kept telling myself little mantras in my head."
Rachel Gottschalk, 37, of Frederick, Md., was the women's runner-up in 1:33:49.4, and Sarah Greenville, 37, of Middletown, Md., finished third in 1:37:37.4.
