If you’re planning a spring calendar, consider adding the new Race to Space marathon, half-marathon or 5K to your list.
The races are set for March 21-22 at Bridge Street Town Centre, starting at 7 a.m. both days. Courses route through Cummings Research Park on a flat track. All three events will be conducive to PRs.
The marathon is new, as is the overall name for what was the Bridge Streeet Half. Running Lane Events puts on the races, which have been a success, and in 2024 the half was held in the Bridge Street parking deck. Why? Torrential rain, lighting and flooding kept impacting the morning start, so the race directors made lemonade out of lemons. It may end up being the area’s only underground race and, if so, it certainly was memorable.
Marathon runners will make two loops of the course. The 2026 winners of the Race to Space Marathon and Half Marathon will receive $500 for establishing the course records. Beginning in 2027, the course record for men and women will reset at $100 and increase $100 each year after that if the record is isn’t broken.
Registration is open now for the three Race to Space events.
New Schedules!
The Chattanooga Track Club and Knoxville Track Club have updated their 2026 schedules with a gaggle of events, and more to come as the year progresses.
Runners will find a Midnight Dash 5K on Dec. 31 and First Day 5K on Jan 1, both of those in Trenton, Ga., just south of Chattanooga. There’s a Backyard Ultra in January, the 40th annual Wauhatchee Trail Race in February and more road and trail events as spring progresses.
Knoxville has a New Years Day 5k, the Oak Ridge 10- and 5-milers on Jan. 24, Strawberry Plains Half and 10K on Valentines’ Day, and almost a dozen trail runs starting in late January.
See the new CTC schedules here and and the new KTC schedules here. Check back for updates, along with checking the TVO Calendar for events in both areas.
Aycock Tops in Biloxi
BILOXI, Miss. — Scotty Aycock of Florence was the top TVO-area athlete in the Mississippi Gulf Coast Marathon.
Aycock, 25, finished 29th in the race in 3:14:14. Gage Gross, 32, of Huntsville, was 100th in 3:37.
They were among a handful of area runners competing in the marathon.
See all of the results here.
Grit & Grace 5K
DECATUR — Tristan Evans of Moulton won the Alice Haughaboo Grit & Grace 5K on Dec. 13 at Point Mallard Park.
Evans, 14, finished in 17:32 and clipped Stuart Lamp, 42, of Decatur, who crossed in 17:49.
Sophie Page Lamp, 14, of Decatur, won the women’s division and was ninth overall. She finished in 21:11.
The race had 69 official finishers. See all of the results here.
Bell Ringer Trail Run
MONTGOMERY BELL STATE PARK, Tenn. — Rhett Robinson of Chattanooga finished 14th in the Bell Ringer Trail Run 50K on Dec. 13.
Robinson, 26, finished in 5:27. Rebecca Sharp, 36, finished 58th in 7:00.
See all of the results here.
