Overview The Ocean City Running Festival is a November race morning at the southern tip of Ocean City, Maryland, where the marathon crosses Isle of Wight Bay to a turnaround inside Assateague State Park and comes home along nearly a mile of the boardwalk. The half marathon starts in the park and runs the marathon's last 13.1 miles, and an 8K and a 5K round out the day; every route takes in the boardwalk. The marathon field is capped at 500 and the half at 1,500. Corrigan Sports Enterprises produces it, along with the Baltimore Running Festival and the Annapolis Running Festival. On site Everything starts and finishes at the Inlet parking lot on the ocean. The marathon goes off at 7:30, the 5K at 8:10 and the 8K at 8:30, while shuttles carry the half-marathon field down to the Assateague campground for a 9:15 start. Ten water stops with water and Gatorade are staffed by local volunteer groups, and bananas and Herr's snacks wait on the back half of the marathon. Winners are awarded on the Main Stage at the Inlet at noon, and costume contests are judged for every distance. Packet pickup and a carbo-load dinner run the night before at the Cambria Hotel downtown, and finishers get a sweatshirt and a medal. Audience Runners who finish the Baltimore Ten Miler, the Annapolis Running Festival and Ocean City in the same year earn the Chessie Challenge medal and VIP perks. Runners come in groups: social teams of 10 or more get money back on every entry, and teams of 40 or more get their own tent at the finish line. Track record The festival first ran in 2023, and 2026 is its fourth year. The course is USATF certified for both the marathon and the half. Brand presence Hoop Tea has its name on the 8K. Atlantic General Hospital is the medical partner, with doctors, nurses and EMTs on the course and in the finish area. Giant Food stocks the post-race recovery table with fruit, snack bars and water and parks its Giant Pharmacy Airstream at the finish with giveaways and coupons, and Herr's supplies the on-course snacks. Corrigan also sells booth space at packet pickup and on race day.