Text and photos by Connie Leinbach
The Ocracoke Island Scallywag Weekend Runfest April 25 and 26 had several firsts in this year’s 5K/10K and half-marathon races, and the big first is that a woman won the half-marathon.
Rory Kelly, 29 of Durham, won the 13.1-mile half-marathon with a time of 1:20:24.
She was the first female to ever win the half-marathon, said Race Director Angie Todd while announcing the awards, and she beat last year’s winner, Ethan Sommers, who had clocked a time of 1:23:05.
A medical student at Duke, Kelly said in an interview that this was her first half-marathon. She has been running for 15 years in local 5Ks.
It was her first time on Ocracoke.
“My friends told me I have to come to Ocracoke and they were so right,” she said. “I had a great time in this race, enjoying the island for the first time. The course, the volunteers, the spectators, the competition were great.”
Kelly’s time was the second best in the Ocracoke half-marathon history for which Connor Readman of Southern Shores holds the record time of 1:18:35, run in 2021.
Kelly was about a minute ahead of second-place winner Josiah Hynes, who followed close behind with a time of 1:21:31.
Hynes captured top place of males running the half-marathon, followed by Cameron Lyons, 26, of Cary, came in second of the males and third overall at 1:28.04.
Although he was trying for a time of 34 minutes, Hynes won the 10K on Saturday with a time of 37:14. Lyons was second in the 10K at 39:16.35, and Holland Spruill, 23, of Virginia Beach, came in third at 39:41.55.
On Ocracoke, 10K runners go twice around the 5K course, which goes through Ocracoke village.
For the first time, a youth ran in the half-marathon, which first goes to the NPS campground then back through the village.
Ten-year-old Chetwood Seifarth of Hagerstown, Maryland, finished the half-marathon 7th place overall with a time of 1:35:31. He was trying to beat the world record of a 10-year-old running the marathon.
According to a Google search, Leo Mendoza of Houston, Texas, set a world record for a 10-year-old in the half marathon with a time of 1:21:50 at the White River Marathon in November 2025.
Seifarth wasn’t upset that he didn’t break the record, but since his birthday is June 4, he will have to train to beat the half-marathon world record next year as an 11-year-old.
He will have to try to beat Mendoza again because in January, Mendoza, now 11, broke the world record for his age group at the Aramco Houston Half Marathon, running it in 1:23:23.
“I’m going to really, really train hard for next year,” Seifarth said, while awaiting the awards ceremony trying to stay dry with his family.
The day before, Seifarth came in third overall in the 5K with a time of 20:21.
While Saturday was sunny, the runners competed Sunday morning under a drizzling rain, but that didn’t seem to faze them because rather than running under a hot sun, the rain cools them off.
“A lot of my runs are in the rain,” said Tracy Simone, 62, of Absecon, New Jersey, who was running the half-marathon for her seventh time. She finished in 2:16:39 at 91st place out of 158 runners who finished.
“If it was raining harder, we’d be chilled to the bone,” said Michael Bridgers as he and his large group of friends from the No Wake Hash House Harriers running club of Beaufort. The group swept several awards on both days.
On Saturday, more than 400 runners from Ocracoke and beyond awaited the start of the 5K and 10K in the parking lot of 1718 Brewing Ocracoke where all the races begin and end.
Andy Painter, 44, of Cary, won the 5K with a time of 17:43 and Abby Berquist, 43, of Kitty Hawk, came in second with a time of 19:56.
“It was a personal record for me,” Berquist said. “I got under 20 minutes.”
There were 662 registered, Todd said, with about 90 running two races.
Results of all the races can be found on the Run The East website.
Todd noted that the event went without any glitches and said that some business owners on the island praised it as well.
“I had a person on the island who works in retail sends me a text Saturday night that said, ‘Holy cow, runners spend a lot of money’,” she said. “I had another business tell me that it’s their best weekend of the year and that the running demographic is the best.”
A day before the race, Todd was on WOVV’s “What’s Happening on Ocracoke,” to talk about the race and running. While talking with Peter Vankevich about marathons, Todd predicted that a human being would someday break the under-two hour mark for a marathon and the same day as the Scallywag half-marathon, two runners did just that in the London Marathon.
Proceeds of the event, from fees and sponsorships and which amount to about $50,000, are shared among the Ocracoke Youth Center, Ocracoke’s community radio WOVV 90.1 FM, and the Ocracoke School Boosters.
The all-woman team of the Western Carteret Medical center in Cedar Point had matching outfits for their first time running as a group the 5K.
“We focus on everyone’s health journey,” said Rebecca Droberg, a nurse practitioner who owns the practice. “What better way to exemplify our passion.”
Peter Vankevich contributed to this story.
thier wins.
