The Harpeth Hills Flying Monkey Marathon is a road race in Percy Warner Park, the larger of the

Warner Parks Edwin Warner Park and Percy Warner Park, collectively known as Warner Parks, are two major public parks in Nashville, Tennessee. They are part of the park system managed by the Nashville Board of Parks and Recreation, Metropolitan Board of Parks ...

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

, Tennessee. It was created to be among the top five most difficult road

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There ...

s in the United States, and was designed to be somewhat anti-establishment and grassroots in character. In particular, the Harpeth Hills Flying Monkey Marathon is consciously not part of any running series and is neither certified nor sanctioned by the

USATF USA Track & Field (USATF) is a United States national governing body for the sports of track and field, cross country running, road running, and racewalking (known as the sport of athletics outside the US). The USATF was known between 1979 and 1 ...

, but is the standard . A runner cannot use this race to qualify for the

Boston Marathon The Boston Marathon is an annual marathon race hosted by eight cities and towns in greater Boston in eastern Massachusetts, United States. It is traditionally held on Patriots' Day, the third Monday of April. Begun in 1897, the event was ins ...

. This marathon was initially dreamt up by a broad array of

Middle Tennessee Middle Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee that composes roughly the central portion of the state. It is delineated according to state law as 41 of the state's 95 counties. Middle Tennessee contains the state's capital an ...

runners and was first described on an internet message board dedicated to Middle Tennessee runners. The original organizers included Trent Rosenbloom, The Nashville Striders, Peter Pressman, Diana Bibeau, and others. The marathon was inaugurated on November 19, 2006, with 97 runners. In the inaugural running, the first place male runner finished in 2:50:25, and the first place female finisher in 3:11:05. The marathon's second running took place on November 18, 2007 with 174 runners from 29 states, two Canadian provinces, and one from

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. In 2007, the overall male winner cut 4:50 off the course record by finishing in 2:45:35. In 2008, four runners broke the previous course record, when Ben Schneider set a new 9:10 minute course record by winning with 2:36:25 on a sunny 30–40 degree day. Ben had successes in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 when he returned to defend his title. In 2012, Olympic Trialist Leah Thorvilson became the first woman to break 3 hours on the course. The race is run in

Percy Warner Park Edwin Warner Park and Percy Warner Park, collectively known as Warner Parks, are two major public parks in Nashville, Tennessee. They are part of the park system managed by the Metropolitan Board of Parks and Recreation of Nashville and Davidso ...

in Nashville, Tennessee – one of the country's largest public city parks. It is one of the hardest road marathons in the country according to many runners, and has been named the best marathon in Tennessee. In 2019, the race inaugurated the first HALF Monkey distance. The marathon starting and finishing line is located at 7601 Highway 100 South, Nashville, TN, 37221. Coordinates: (36.066255, −86.900418).

Origin

The marathon's creator asserts that the marathon's name honors a local legend about flying monkeys. According to the legend, the flying monkeys are an endangered

cryptid Cryptids are animals or other beings whose present existence is disputed or unsubstantiated by science. Cryptozoology, the study of cryptids, is a pseudoscience claiming that such beings may exist somewhere in the wild; it has been widely cri ...

often confused with large owls and hawks. Before 1939, the monkeys were supposedly commonly seen throughout the Southeastern United States, with large populations living in

middle Tennessee Middle Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee that composes roughly the central portion of the state. It is delineated according to state law as 41 of the state's 95 counties. Middle Tennessee contains the state's capital an ...

and

Appalachia Appalachia ( ) is a geographic region located in the Appalachian Mountains#Regions, central and southern sections of the Appalachian Mountains in the east of North America. In the north, its boundaries stretch from the western Catskill Mountai ...

. The legend states that, following 1939, the flying monkeys were hunted to the point of near-

extinction Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

Race history

Results history

Current course record, by gender, denoted by ; prior course record by .

The Warner Parks

The Warner Parks, one of eighty parks owned and operated by the Nashville Metropolitan Board of Parks and Recreation, are located in southwest Davidson County in the Harpeth Hills. The Parks comprise a vast rolling woodland in the heart of the Nashville community, and are situated just from downtown. Surrounded by urban and suburban settings on all sides, the Warner Parks include the adjoined Percy and Edwin Warner Parks, together encompassing nearly of forests, fields, hills, valleys and wetlands. The Warner Parks together make up one of the largest city parks in the country. While the parks have walking and nature trails, the singular draw for runners is their extensive network of paved running routes. Snaking through the Percy Warner Park is the Main Drive. "The 11.2", as the locals call it, winds its way through the tree-shaded Park, covering over of elevation gain and loss with grades of up to 10–12% at times, with occasional open fields and densely forested glades. The route goes by scenic overlooks of

, various sports and recreation areas, and quiet picnic pavilions. Runners also pass the grounds of the

Iroquois Steeplechase The Iroquois Steeplechase (also known as the Iroquois Hurdle Stakes) is an American Grade I NSA sanctioned steeplechase race run the second Saturday of May every year at Percy Warner Park in Nashville, Tennessee. The race dates back to 1941 an ...

, one of the country's oldest grassy horse tracks.

References

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External links

Marathon's website
Marathons in the United States Sports in Nashville, Tennessee Recurring sporting events established in 2006 Sports competitions in Tennessee 2006 establishments in Tennessee