YMCA Critz Tybee Run

The YMCA Critz Tybee Run Fest is a two-day running weekend on Tybee Island, near Savannah, held annually in early February. It offers five events runners can enter in any combination: a Friday evening 5K, then a Saturday 10K, half marathon, 2.8-mile Beach Run, and one-mile run. Completing all five covers 26.2 miles, so the weekend can serve as a marathon by pieces. It also starts with a free Kiddie Run, and proceeds support youth programs at the YMCA of Coastal Georgia. The races use Tybee Island’s downtown streets and the area near the Tybee Island Lighthouse and the Fort Screven historic district. Roads remain open to traffic, so runners are instructed to keep right unless directed otherwise by staff or police. The event continues an older coastal Georgia marathon tradition that began as the March of Dimes Marathon at Hunter Army Airfield, later changing names and locations before settling into its current Tybee format. Locals, visitors, families, half-marathoners, and runners attempting the full five-race challenge share the weekend, with optional extras like a Saturday VIP area.