The OhioHealth Capital City Half Marathon returned Saturday in downtown Columbus, sending thousands of runners onto the city streets for one of the area’s biggest race weekends. Organizers said the event brings together participants from across the country and beyond, while downtown traffic again adjusted around road closures tied to the course.
Race director David Babner, who launched the event in 2004, said the race now draws around 11,000 participants and sends more than 11,000 people running through Columbus. He said the cap city half marathon welcomes folks from 47 different states and three different countries, calling it “all of central Ohio coming together and welcoming folks from 47 different states and three different countries right here to Columbus.” Babner said he still cannot believe what the race has become, and added that it is “a huge economic generator for the city of Columbus,” raising millions of dollars in economic impact.
That growth has turned the race into more than a morning run. Babner said it is now a weekend destination that brings people into downtown Columbus and supports the local economy, while also serving the community goal he said drives the event: “This is all about making sure we create a healthy, active community.”
For runners, the appeal was personal. Art DeMatteo said, “There’s something about being in Columbus… we came down from Medina and we make a weekend out of it.” Emma Shaffer said the OhioHealth Capital City Half Marathon is her favorite half marathon and that she was “excited, nervous, but ready to go.” She also said her goal for the race was a sub-two-hour finish. Samantha, meanwhile, said it was her first time running the event and admitted, “This will be my first time… kind of regretting doing it. But we’ll see how I feel tomorrow.”
There was also a family story at the start line. Ray Walker said he was running with his deaf sister and other relatives, describing the group as “a signing family” and saying they were trying to bring inclusivity to the sport. He said, “This is their first 5K for each of them — their first race, actually.” Another runner, Emma Kelley, put her focus more bluntly: “I’m just trying not to stop… and not get sent to the hospital.” Paul Montez, 61, said he was keeping his goal simpler: “Just to finish at this point… I’m 61, what do you expect?”
The race’s scale and the mix of first-timers and repeat runners show how far it has come since Babner started it in 2004. What began as a local event has become a fixture that fills downtown Columbus with runners from far outside Ohio, and this year’s return again put the city’s streets, and its economy, at the center of the course.
