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Runners race to the finish line at the Blue Ridge Marathon

Thousands of athletes laced up and took off Saturday morning

ROANOKE, Va. – Thousands of athletes laced up and took off Saturday morning in the annual Blue Ridge Marathon.

Crowds lined Jefferson Street in downtown Roanoke to cheer on the runners racing in America’s Toughest Road Marathon.

This year, more than a hundred athletes wore shirts and pins reading #Miles4Tab.

Tabitha Thompson was an avid runner and cyclist who died in a crash in February.

But a friend of Thompson said if she was here today she would be pushing the runners to keep moving forward.

Betty Noell who met Thompson through a Roanoke triathlon training group said Thompson would tell the team, “Get up that mountain. Get going. Do your best and have fun.”

This is the 13th year runners had to overcome 7,000 feet of Roanoke Valley elevation in the Blue Ridge Marathon.


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Alexus joined 10 News in October 2020.

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