Kiawah Island Golf Resort Marathon & Half Marathon

Runners start both the full and the half marathons at Kiawah’s West Beach Village, and from there head east through the island’s interior roadways in the early miles, along Kiawah Island Parkway, Governor’s Drive and past the Turtle Point Golf Club. The second half of the course then brings runners out of the interior parts of the island and toward the shoreline, where they’ll run along Flyway Drive and Surfsong Road, passing by the beaches at Osprey Beach and Vanderhorst Plantation along the way. After the turn onto Ocean Green Drive and the mile 10 marker, the course then weaves its way back to the village where the finish line lies. Perhaps most famous as one of the Eastern seaboard’s most well-known golf destinations, Kiawah Island has twice been home to professional golf’s Ryder Cup and hosted the PGA Championship in 2012. The resort features 10 miles of beaches and is just a short drive from nearby Charleston, another major South Carolina tourist destination. For runners who’d like to get a preview of the course before the race, organizers point out that a majority of the race course lies within a secure private community on Kiawah, and is thus closed to vehicles for preview before the event.