American-born Bermudian Patrick Bean Jr enjoyed a fair effort competing at the recent Baltimore Running Festival Marathon.

The event drew about 20,000 to the streets of “Charm City” with a course taking in the famous Inner Harbour overlooking Chesapeake Bay and other historical landmarks along 26.2 mile course.

Bean, who trains, competes and has aspirations in the sport of cross-fitness, ran as part of a mixed relay team “Run 4 Fun” and placed 101 out of 460 mixed teams, with there also being some 1,100 teams of all males and all females.

The 31-year-old life counsellor ran the final leg of the journey through the city, taking over at Clifton Park in East Baltimore and breaking the finish tape downtown on Charles Street, near Camden Yards and Raven’s Stadium, homes of baseball’s Orioles and the NFL’s Ravens respectively. The team’s time for the race was 3hr 59min 47sec.

Among individual categories Jeffrey Redfern, of Washington DC, won overall and men’s honours in 2:30:27, five minutes ahead of second place runner Tyler Muse of Bel Air, Maryland. Julia Roman-Duval of Columbia, Maryland, was the first female to cross the finish line, hers a time of 2:47:43, with Baltimorean Dahlia Rohm second in 2:58:38.

The course was described as fair yet challenging and took runners through the many diverse neighbourhoods including the scenic Inner Harbor waterfront area, historic Federal Hill and charming Fells Point. The route also travelled through the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore right past the penguin exhibit who had on their “tuxedo best” as they waved on competitors.

Miles 16-20 of the marathon route have been compared to Boston’s famed “Heartbreak Hill” but runners in Baltimore are rewarded with a loop around Lake Montebello which provides some relief and flat terrain. The final five miles are mostly downhill finishing with a waterfront run along the harbour’s promenade.

The race also included a half-marathon, 5K run, handcrank ride and what was called a Baltimoron-A-Thon.