Critz Tybee Run

Nestled just off the coast of Savannah near Wilmington Island and the mouth of the Savannah River along the border between Georgia and South Carolina, Tybee Island still has much of its wild, untamed natural beauty, scenery that runners will get to take in at the annual Critz Tybee Run Fest in early February , which features a half marathon, 10K, 2.8-mile and 1-mile run.

Now set for its annual running in its current incarnation as the Critz Tybee Run Fest, the race actually dates all the way back to the late 1970s, when it was run as the March of Dimes Marathon at the nearby Hunter Army Airfield. Over the years, it changed its name a few times as well as its venue — to the Savannah Marathon and then the Tybee Maritime Marathon, to which the half marathon was added for the first time in 1995.

Today, the race is run on Tybee Island’s downtown city streets and near the end of the island around the Tybee Island Lighthouse and the Fort Screven historic district, which served as an active fort between 1899 and 1947, when it was decommissioned. It’s perhaps best known for its famous Army general George C. Marshall, who would go on to develop the Marshall Plan that rebuilt Europe after the devastation of World War II.

Participants are cautioned to remember that the roads for this event remain open to traffic, so runners are encouraged to stay in the right lane at all times, unless directed otherwise by race organizers or traffic police. While you’re in town, you’ll likely also see signs or hear stories about the “Tybee Bomb,” an unexploded atomic bomb that was dropped into the ocean off the coast of Tybee in the late 1950s and never recovered, even after multiple attempts to find it.