PigWorks CEO Doug Olberding dishes on new Flying Pig courses

Thousands of Flying Pig Marathon runners and walkers have been preparing for the last few months to achieve their dreams, whether that's clocking a new personal best or simply making a lifelong memory. Some registrants may have adjusted their training when it was announced that the 2026 event would feature new courses throughout the weekend to accommodate the ongoing Fourth Street Bridge project in Northern Kentucky. The new Flying Pig 5K, 10K, Half Marathon and Marathon routes debuted on March 17.

To help preview this year's Flying Pig, The Enquirer sat down with PigWorks President and CEO Doug Olberding for a chat about the new routes and additional updates surrounding the Queen City's premier race. Can you take us behind the scenes of what had to happen to finalize the 2026 Flying Pig Marathon courses? "The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet invited us to a session in February 2025 and said, 'Here's the plan (with the Fourth Street Bridge).

' So we knew before last year's marathon that the bridge was coming down. "People love running over the bridges. (The Marathon) goes into five cities, so that's five police departments, five road crews, five fire departments, five city councils and two state departments of transportation.

Those people, those decision-makers, were never sitting at the same table at the same time. "The other thing that really confounded it, which we weren't expecting when we learned about the bridge project, was the construction at (Paycor) Stadium. We always started on Elm Street and could use that plaza.