Magnolia Marathon & Half

The organizers of the Magnolia Marathon & Half would like to take this opportunity to wholeheartedly express our gratitude to every sponsor, volunteer, participant, spectator, vendor and friend who supported our annual event since 2012 when the original event, named the LEO Run to Remember, became a reality. Your support is the PRIMARY factor that kept this small town event happening for 10 wonderful years.
Our 10th Anniversary event in November of 2022 was amazing. The organizers were and still are amazed that we were able to “pull off” a successful event for so long, despite the big and small challenges that have plagued our community and the nation these last few years.
It is with great regret, but not without serious consideration and debate, that we have decided to retire The Magnolia Marathon & Half. We are a very small group of passionate community members who have given this event 10 years of literal blood (those pop-up tents pinch HARD!), many many hours of sweat (and some really COLD days too!), and more tears than you would expect (mainly from me!).
We are forever grateful for the kind words and amazing feedback that we have received over these 10 years. We definitely hear you. We will all miss this event too.
During the years we’ve organized this event, we have made long lasting friendships, lost a few unforgettable ones, and strengthened our resolve in many many ways.
The truth is we are tired. Each one of us gave 100000%. Every day, for months and months, and then even more on the longest day - race day - to make this event into the success that you have told us it was. We do not want to risk letting you down by attempting to continue on a low fuel tank.

We love each and every one of you. And again, we cannot express in words how truly grateful and humbled we are by your dedication and support.

Evelyn Kowall
Race Director

It is with great sorrow we share the passing of the mother of one of our MagMar committee members. Debbie Tingle Wedgeworth’s mother is now rejoicing in Heaven. RIP Ms. Darlene. Our thoughts and prayers are with this family.

The blimp is deflated, the medals all claimed, the trash taken out and the Race Director & crew have all had a WARM shower and is a nice long nap!
There are more people to thank than I realize! I’ve seen so many tagged posts from people I don’t know personally supporting our event! The City of Meridian-Government & it’s citizens really showed up and showed our best today!

A Massive thanks y’all to everyone who volunteered, cheered, woke up at 3am to setup in the dark, drove all over town hanging signs, assigning volunteer duties & waved from their front porch! I am unbelievably grateful to every person who took even a minute out of their day to support our event! You guys made the Hospitality State truly earn its title!!

An even larger thanks y’all to our AMAZING police officers & city officials who spent ALL day sitting at intersections, controlling traffic lights and roving the course checking on our runners’ safety!

Finally a HUGE thanks y’all to the amazing and inspiring Runners who came from 22 different states to get a view of our Queen city!

You. You ALL are the reason we continue to put this event together! ❤️🧡☺️

See you all in November 2023 for the next chapter of the Magnolia Marathon & Half!!!!

Start of 2022 Magnolia Marathon & Half

2022 Magnolia Marathon & Half Start

Magnolia Marathon 2022 has come to an end and what a very special week we have had. I would like to thank all the volunteers who supported us to make Meridian’s only marathon/half a great day. Particularly, I thank the Meridian Police Department and the City of Meridian for keeping our runners safe through 78 turns on the course. Thank you for providing the personnel and equipment to do this. Thank you to the Threefoot Brewery (John L Purdy) for allowing us a fantastic place for packet-pick-up. The Meridian Fire Department, Metro Ambulance and Naval Air Station personnel supported our participants and staff. Thank you to our water stations personnel: the Debs, Meridian High School A-Team Science Club, Stephen Poole and Rush Pharmacy, Brandi Polizzi and Andrews Chapel, Eddie Bowles and Heart and Sole, Celisa Hodges Coleman (who is the bomb💣) and Kris Copeland and her team. Thank you to T.j. and Kim Nance, Chris Cornett, Stephanie Reeves Cottrill (your daughter is amazing), Wes Watkins. Thank you to Becky and Gracie Dennis, John and Linda Kowall, Diane Donaldson, Gene May and Bill Pace. Thank you sooooo much to Bryan Summers!!!!I know there must be others I have missed and I apologize but know your contributions (no matter how big or small) were a big part of this successful race! Bryan Summers!!!!!

Thank you to our sponsors: Total Pain (Dr. Eric Pearson), Castle Industries (Ashley B. Castle and family), CrossFit Lucas, Total Rehab, Threefoot Hotel, WTOK, Magnolia Beverages, Coca-Cola, Heart and Sole, Jimmy John’s and Weidmann’s.

Thank you to the MagMar committee and friends: Evelyn R Kowall (Race Director), Tim and Caroline Irvine and Time To Run, Team Green Beans (Patricia and David Green), Debbie Tingle Wedgeworth, Debbie May, Ward Calhoun, and Jenny Vance Pigford. And my precious husband, Paul Earley❤️. (I thank God that man loves me as much as I love him because I could not do my part without him 😆). A special thanks to the Kowall crew. David and Sheila Gail Martin Kowall, Pete Kowall and his amazing family. And, did I mention Pete’s sister, Evelyn? And his wife. And children. And aunts and uncles and the list goes on!

I would like to tell you of two people who were missed this year. Pam Warren Vance, a dear friend to all and completed our tribe, watched the race and cheered on from her glorious home above. We miss every single thing about Pam and she will forever be in our hearts (and on the back of our shirts!) Her unexpected death left our team reeling almost two years ago. We stuck together and Pam left us a little piece of her heart - we inherited her family! So much like her mother, Jenny has stepped in, laughed, made us laugh, and is carrying on a wonderful legacy. But now Pam is running on streets of gold and warming up her famous hot chocolate for us!

And finally, this year, the work horse behind the scene and the one who NEVER wants to be in the lime light - David Kowall. Mr. David is (figuratively) running a marathon himself. Healing and getting strong enough to take steps toward getting on the transplant list kept him at home this year. Look below and you can admire our finishers’ medals and awards made by Mr. David himself. This past year has been tough on his entire family but, in true Kowall fashion, Kowalls came from EVERYWHERE this weekend to help out and it was humbling and grand! That’s what THIS family does. That is what FAMILY is all about. My understanding is that Mr. David would not stop working on these one-of-a kind medallions despite his illness - no matter how bad he felt. He made it to the “finish line” and the awards were perfect. He was in our hearts yesterday and every minute of every day. We can NOT await to get him back out there with us next year💜.

Another Magnolia Marathon on record! MagMar 2022 was cold and windy and our volunteers were an instrumental part in pulling off such a big event. Meridian High School
A-Team Science Club provided volunteers all over the course and here’s a few pictures from their experience. Thank you to each and every one of you for working hard to keep our runners safe!!!!

2022 marathon winners:

Lanier Wood, 3:15:50
Lindsey Norris, 3:30:33

Our 2022 Half marathon winners:

Dalton Atchinson, 1:21:34
Avery Briggs, 1:36:20