Cincinnati celebrates Flying Pig runners

CINCINNATI (WKRC) - The Flying Pig Marathon and Half Marathon kicked off early Sunday morning.

The longstanding tradition raises a lot of money for charities.

Thousands flood the city every year for the races, and there couldn't have been better weather Sunday for the half- and full-marathon events.

Participants in the races even included those who ran on all fours.

Andrew Madak is a physician from Rochester, Michigan. He and his running partner Ginger, a therapy dog, sure turned heads.

"She's run about 251 races--about 30 fulls, seven halves and just groupings of the other ones," Madak said.

Not to mention Ginger just ran the 5K and 10K Saturday.

"This is the first time she's gotten this much attention, but she loves it. It's good for her; it shows you what dogs can really do," Madak said.

Wondering who can run faster? Madak says Ginger can do a nine-minute mile.

"It takes me all year to get to that speed," he said.

And Local 12 was at the finish "swine" as the half marathon winners crossed. Lara Crofford and Tommy Kauffmann won the half.

Crofford is a coach for the University of Cincinnati's women's cross country team.

"All my runners from UC are out on the course, and to be honest, they're the ones who kind of inspired me to get back into running and get back into training," she said.

Kauffmann is a Cincinnati native and was an Olympic Trials marathoner. It was the first time he's ever run the Flying Pig Half Marathon.

"I started the full twice and not finished twice, so it's good to cross the finish line," he said.

Jack Randall, 22, won for the men in the 19th Flying Pig Marathon. He is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati and a native of Dayton, Ohio. It was his first time running in the Flying Pig.

"It's great; it's surreal. Never thought this would happen," Randall said.

Kerry Lee won for the women. She's a cross country coach at Anderson High School, and she's never stopped fighting for that first place finish. She had come in second or third each year since 2011.

"Lucky number seven, so this is my seventh time trying," Lee said.

Bob Coughlin, the founder of the Flying Pig, got to see firsthand all the people pulling for Lee.

"I biked it today, just in front of Kerry, you know, who won, and as I whipped the crowd up saying, 'Here comes the female lead,' they're all going, "Is it Kerry? Is it Kerry?" and it's exciting," he said.

"I think I just wanted to show my team that you have a goal and you just keep going after it, and, you know, you try as hard as you can, and this was my day today," Lee said.

Participants from The Flying Pig represented all 50 states and 20 countries.