Athletes take to Wilmington streets for 24th Annual Battleship Half Marathon
WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) – Athletes, families and spectators, took to the streets of downtown Wilmington on Sunday for the 24th Annual Battleship Half Marathon.
The first race was held in 1998 and the “Battleship” is considered one of the oldest half marathons in the south.
The 5K kicked off the race, followed by the half marathon and 10K, which started together on Front Street.
The half marathon runners made their way across both Isabel Holmes and Thomas Rhodes Bridges before getting near the USS North Carolina Battleship and then across Cape Fear Memorial Bridge back to downtown Wilmington.
WWAY caught up with the winners of the 5K and half marathon.
“The hard work is paying off, but really hitting it hard with training these couple weeks,” said Austin Sullivan, “So, it’s good to see it pay off here.”
“It’s great to win, I haven’t won in a long time, I decided to choose a local race just to see where training and just close out the season, so it was pretty good,” said half marathon winner Pardon Ndhlovu.
The race wasn’t only for adults, kids took part in some of the races, 7-year-old Angelo Bianchi ran his first 5K race and beat his dad’s time, and said it’s all in the mind.
“Well, it’s not about starting, or how you start, it’s about how you finish, you always want to finish strong,” said Bianchi.
Some athletes participated virtually, and according to the Wilmington Police Dept. there were no race related traffic issues.
A full list of results can be found here.
