Youth Half Marathon Records Keep Dropping

Youngsters ran fast half marathons all over the country in 2016.

Charlie Westrip is the latest preteen to add his name to the record book. On November 12, 2016, 6-year-old Westrip ran 2:06:51 at the Huntsville (Alabama) Half Marathon. He started running last year as a way to spend time with his military dad, and he not only enjoys the accolades that come with racing but also traveling to different states.



“He’s very competitive, and he likes winning,” his mother, Holly Westrip, told Runner’s World by phone. “And of course he also loves going for ice cream treats afterwards.”

On November 13, 2016, Caleb Barnes, 9, ran the Cambridge (Massachusetts) Half Marathon in 1:34:44, beating Liam Ballard’s single-age record by 15 seconds. The Barnes family, however, didn’t submit his performance to the Association of Road Racing Statisticians (ARRS), and his mother said that her main focus is to continue to foster his love of running no matter his results. Ballard’s time of 1:34:59 remains the record.

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Several boys and a few girls records have fallen in the past few years. Here’s a look at each single-age half-marathon record, according to ARRS.

BOYS
2:06:51
Charlie Westrip, age 6, in Huntsville, Alabama, on November 12, 2016

1:43:34
Jaden Merrick, age 7, in Waterloo, Iowa, on September 12, 2015


1:38:22
Grattan O’Neill, age 8, in Elkmont, Alabama, on January 16, 2016

1:34:59
Liam Ballard, age 9, in St. Pete Beach, Florida, on March 22, 2015

1:29:14
Elliott Daniels, age 10, in Oakland, California, on March 22, 2015

1:24:10
Hunter Perez, age 11, in Houston, Texas, on January 19, 2014

GIRLS
2:40:22
Rosie Dunham, age 6, in Columbia, South Carolina, on November 9, 2013

1:40:59
Makenzie Kolvoord, age 7, in Carderock, Maryland, on November 16, 2014

1:35:25
Tabitha Francks, age 8, in New York, New York, on September 24, 1983

1:28:31
Tabitha Francks, age 9, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on September 16, 1984

1:25:42
Stephanie Paparelli, age 10, in The Woodlands, Texas, on January 29, 1983

1:31:23
Heather Welsch, age 11, in Houston, Texas, on January 19, 2014

Zersenay Tadese of Eritrea set the men’s world half marathon record of 58:23 in March 2010, and Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya set the women’s world record in February 2017 with a time of 1:05:06.

This story was updated on February 9 after the women’s world record in the half marathon fell.