Charleston, North Charleston team up for a full marathon (update: results, photos)

Image by Flickr user marksteelelenz

First reporting, updates are at the bottom:

I'm not quite sure how, but somehow the conversion of North Charleston's half marathon festival into a full marathon has partnered with the City of Charleston.

The Charleston Marathon will start in historic downtown Charleston and head south to the Battery before heading up to North Charleston to hit the Park Circle area and finish in the old Navy Yard.

The festival begins on Friday, January 14, 2011 at the Navy Yard in North Charleston and includes a health and fitness expo, pre-race dinner, and youth marathon.

On Saturday, January 15, a 5K ($30) and 10K ($40) will start at the Navy Yard while the half marathon ($75) and full marathon ($95) will begin in historic Charleston, traverse the cities of Charleston and North Charleston, and finish at the Navy Yard. All races share a common finish line.

After the race conclusions, a shrimp and grits festival will feature The Blue Dogs and area student fine arts performance groups.

The festival concludes on Sunday, January 16, with a 30 and 62 mile bike ride that starts and finishes at the Navy Yard.

You can register for the race here and learn more about it on its website

They also have a Facebook presence.

The festival and races benefit the Youth Endowment for the Arts (YEA), whose mission is to provide equitable,quality cultural arts experiences to Charleston area children. Through grants and curriculum building, YEA strives to use fine arts to help open additional avenues to learning.

Charleston Mayor Joe Riley and North Charleston Mayor R. Keith Summey are holding an announcement ceremony at the Military Magnet Academy, 2950 Carner Avenue, North Charleston, on Thursday December 16 at 12:30 p.m.

Update December 15:

The Post and Courier has published their own version of this story, it's most interesting for a smidgen on the race's roots and to-date registration count; take a read here.

Update January 12:

Race weekend is almost here, and according to an article in Charleston Scene, as of Monday, 971 had signed up to run.

It being the first attempt using this race route, Charleston Scene explores the obstacles that face the Riverfront Race Festival's Charleston Marathon; read on.

Update January 14:

The Post and Courier has a post with the official event schedule for the race weekend, a map of where runners will take to city streets, and details onto which roadways will experience closures to ensure runner safety.

Hop over to the article for all of the race day information.

Update January 16:

The race seems to have been a success with some 1,000 coming out for the marathon and three-quarters finishing on the day that started out with temperatures in the 20s.

The Post and Courier was there and has a solid report and photo gallery and ABC News 4 has a nice video.