Cincinnati's Biggest Running Weekend Ever: The 2026 Flying Pig Marathon Delivered History
Every few years, a race weekend produces results that reframe what's possible — a course record that had stood for two decades falls, a 20-year-old wins a half-marathon title in a time that would have won many national championships, and a college sophomore nearly breaks a record set just 12 months earlier. The 2026 Flying Pig Marathon, held May 1–3 in Cincinnati, Ohio, was that kind of weekend. The 28th edition of the race didn't just set participation records — it produced performances that will define this event's legacy for years to come.
For the uninitiated: the Flying Pig Marathon is one of the Midwest's most beloved road races, winding through Cincinnati's neighborhoods, hills, and bridges since 1999. It has cultivated a reputation for community energy, punishing elevation changes, and a finish-line atmosphere that keeps runners coming back. This year, runners from all 50 states and 31 countries showed up — the largest field in the event's history — and the racing at the front matched the occasion.
The Record-Breaking Field: What the Numbers Actually Tell Us
Participation records are easy to announce and hard to contextualize. Here's the real significance: runners from all 50 states and 31 countries converging on Cincinnati, Ohio for a regional marathon signals something meaningful about how the event has positioned itself on the national running calendar.
Regional marathons have faced structural pressure over the past decade as runners gravitating toward Abbott World Marathon Majors (Boston, New York, Chicago, London, Berlin, Tokyo) and away from smaller events. The Flying Pig's continued growth runs counter to that trend. Race organizers made course adjustments ahead of this year's event, a sign that the race is actively investing in the runner experience rather than resting on its reputation.
The international draw — 31 countries represented — reflects how destination marathon culture has matured. International runners aren't just targeting the six majors anymore; they're seeking events with distinct character and genuine community, and the Flying Pig offers both in abundance. The pig theme, the hills, the Cincinnati crowd — it's a race that photographs well and runs hard, which is exactly what traveling runners want.
Zach Kreft and the 20-Year Course Record That Finally Fell
Course records at established marathons are stubborn. They're set on fast days by peak athletes and then survive year after year as the field gets larger and the logistics more complex. The men's full marathon course record at the Flying Pig had stood for 20 years — a mark that had survived through the Obama administration, multiple Olympic cycles, and the entire modern era of GPS running watches and carbon-plated racing shoes.
Zach Kreft erased it on May 3, 2026. The specifics of his winning time are still being reported across outlets, but the fact that a record with that kind of longevity fell points to one of two things: either Kreft ran an exceptional race, or the conditions on May 3 were unusually favorable — likely some combination of both. Twenty-year course records don't fall on average days.
What makes records like this meaningful isn't just the time on the clock. A 20-year-old mark represents the gold standard the course had produced against its own geography — those Cincinnati hills, those bridges, that specific point-to-point challenge. Kreft didn't just beat a time; he beat the best version of every runner who had ever run that course over two decades. That's a different kind of achievement than running fast on a flat, certified PR course.
For runners who train specifically for hilly courses and invest in gear like carbon plate marathon racing shoes optimized for variable terrain, Kreft's performance offers a useful data point: the technology-plus-training combination is now capable of cracking records that once seemed untouchable.
Simon Heys: From PigWorks Intern to Half-Marathon Champion
If Kreft's record was the marquee headline, Simon Heys provided the most compelling storyline of the weekend. The 24-year-old from Wilmington, Ohio won the men's half-marathon in 1 hour, 9 minutes, and 58 seconds — a performance that would be competitive at elite road racing events far larger than the Flying Pig.
What makes Heys's win genuinely unusual is the arc that preceded it. Heys was a PigWorks intern in 2022 — PigWorks being the organizational arm behind the Flying Pig Marathon. He worked behind the scenes on the event that he would go on to win four years later. That's the kind of origin story that race directors dream about but almost never see materialize.
His athletic background is equally notable: Heys was a four-time All-Ohio Athletic Conference runner at Wilmington College, a Division III program. Division III produces elite runners regularly — the conference system is a legitimate pipeline — but breaking 1:10 in a half-marathon at any level requires a finishing kick and sustained pace that separates top-tier competitors from the rest of the field. Heys ran sub-70 minutes, which puts him in territory that demands serious attention from anyone evaluating the next tier of American distance running talent.
The intern-to-champion narrative isn't just feel-good content. It reflects something real about the Flying Pig's organizational culture — the kind of event where young people invest in the infrastructure, develop a relationship with the race, and return to compete at its highest level. That kind of institutional loyalty is increasingly rare in professional running, and it says something about how the Flying Pig treats the people in its orbit.
Amanda Zerhusen's Comeback and a Near-Miss on the Course Record
The women's half-marathon result deserves extended analysis, because what Amanda Zerhusen accomplished on May 3 isn't fully captured by her winning time of 1:19:50.
Start with the context: Zerhusen is a 2024 McNicholas High School graduate and a current sophomore at Mount St. Joseph University. She's 19 or 20 years old, competing against a field of adult runners that includes athletes at the peak of their endurance development. Her winning time was just one second slower than the course record set by Madeline Trevisan the previous year — a margin so thin it's essentially a rounding error in marathon distance running.
Now add the recovery arc. In 2025, Zerhusen ran the same Flying Pig half-marathon in 1:30:42 — while coming off an injury. She was 10 minutes and 52 seconds slower. One year later, she won the race outright and nearly broke the course record. That's not a normal improvement curve; that's what happens when a genuinely elite young runner gets healthy, gets properly trained, and runs a peak race on a good day.
According to race coverage, Zerhusen had finished her outdoor track season on May 1, just two days before the half-marathon. Running a near-course-record half-marathon two days after closing out a college track season is the kind of thing coaches replay on film. It suggests both exceptional fitness and the ability to recover and perform under competitive pressure — traits that define long-term elite potential.
For young runners who train at this level, equipment choices matter enormously. Athletes like Zerhusen rely on tools like a GPS running watch for marathon training to track pace and heart rate data across both track and road disciplines, and high-performance women's half-marathon racing flats optimized for the kind of sustained tempo effort a sub-1:20 performance requires.
What This Means for American Road Racing
Pull back from the individual performances and the 2026 Flying Pig tells a broader story about the state of American road racing.
First, the talent pipeline is younger and deeper than the headlines suggest. Heys at 24 and Zerhusen as a college sophomore aren't outliers — they're evidence that the college running system, including Division III programs, is producing athletes capable of competing at a high level in open road events far sooner than the traditional development timeline would predict.
Second, regional marathons with strong organizational cultures are holding their own against the majors. The record field at the Flying Pig didn't happen by accident. It happened because the race has invested in logistics, community, and the runner experience over nearly three decades. Comprehensive results infrastructure — including searchable databases — signals an organization that treats runners as stakeholders, not just participants.
Third, course records matter for race identity. The 20-year-old men's marathon record wasn't just a performance benchmark — it was part of the course's mythology. Its fall in 2026 resets the conversation about what's possible on this specific course. Future elite runners will now target Kreft's mark the way runners at Boston target the iconic splits of past champions.
The Flying Pig is no longer just a beloved regional race. The 2026 results suggest it's operating at a level that attracts and produces performances worthy of national attention.
How to Train for a Hilly Marathon: Lessons from Cincinnati
For the thousands of recreational runners who competed at the Flying Pig this year — or who are considering it for 2027 — the course's reputation for elevation deserves specific preparation. The Cincinnati course isn't brutal in the way that mountain ultras are brutal, but it's unforgiving in the way that consistent rolling hills are unforgiving: they punish runners who don't train for them specifically.
Elite performances like Kreft's and Zerhusen's are useful models not because recreational runners should chase those times, but because they demonstrate that the course rewards efficiency over raw speed. Hill training on a treadmill with incline settings for marathon training is one accessible option for runners in flat geography preparing for a hilly course. Strength work targeting hip flexors and glutes — supported by tools like resistance bands for runners — translates directly to the kind of muscular endurance that Cincinnati's hills demand in the back half of a full marathon.
Recovery matters equally. With the weekend spanning May 1–3, the Flying Pig is a spring race, which means training runs through cold winter months. Compression gear like compression socks for marathon recovery and proper post-race nutrition protocols are as important as any workout in the 16-week block.
Frequently Asked Questions About the 2026 Flying Pig Marathon
Who won the 2026 Flying Pig Marathon men's full marathon?
Zach Kreft won the men's full marathon and broke a course record that had stood for 20 years. The specific winning time continues to be reported across outlets, but the record-breaking nature of his performance has been widely confirmed by race coverage from Yahoo Sports and other outlets.
Who won the 2026 Flying Pig Half Marathon?
Simon Heys, 24, of Wilmington, Ohio won the men's half-marathon in 1:09:58. Amanda Zerhusen, a sophomore at Mount St. Joseph University, won the women's half-marathon in 1:19:50 — just one second off the course record. Full results are available in a searchable database maintained by race organizers.
How large was the 2026 Flying Pig Marathon field?
The 2026 Flying Pig Marathon featured the largest field in the event's 28-year history, with runners from all 50 states and 31 countries. The exact participant count hasn't been consolidated into a single confirmed figure across all race distances, but the geographic reach — every U.S. state represented — is unprecedented for the event.
When and where is the Flying Pig Marathon held?
The Flying Pig Marathon takes place annually in Cincinnati, Ohio, typically over the first weekend of May. The 2026 edition ran May 1–3. The race has been held since 1999 and covers a challenging course through Cincinnati's neighborhoods and hills. Course details, including 2026 changes and the finish line setup, were published ahead of the race.
Who is Amanda Zerhusen and why is her performance significant?
Amanda Zerhusen is a 2024 graduate of McNicholas High School in Cincinnati and a current sophomore at Mount St. Joseph University. She won the 2026 Flying Pig women's half-marathon in 1:19:50 — one second off the course record — just two days after finishing her college outdoor track season. In 2025, she ran the same race in 1:30:42 while recovering from an injury, making her 2026 improvement of nearly 11 minutes one of the more dramatic year-over-year developments in the race's history.
The Verdict: A Race Weekend That Raised the Bar
The 2026 Flying Pig Marathon accomplished something genuinely difficult: it made a nearly three-decade-old event feel new. A 20-year course record fell in the marquee distance. A former intern returned to win the half-marathon in a time that demands national attention. A college sophomore nearly broke a record set the year before, two days after closing out her track season.
These aren't coincidences. They're the product of an event that has built the infrastructure to attract serious talent, the community to support first-time finishers and elites alike, and the operational quality that runners from 31 countries were willing to travel to experience. Live coverage throughout the weekend underscored how seriously Cincinnati takes this event as both a sporting occasion and a civic celebration.
For anyone tracking American road racing in 2026, the Flying Pig is no longer a race you learn about after the fact. It belongs in the conversation alongside events with far longer pedigrees and far bigger marketing budgets. The pig has officially taken flight — and the records may not stand long.
