Charlie Haile is from Orlando, Florida.

Since his wife was in Spain for two weeks, he needed to find something to do.

That’s when he started looking for races.

Then he found the Three Sisters Marathon in Danville.

“And I thought, ‘I’ve never been to Danville before, I bet it’s a neat town,’” he told the Register & Bee early Saturday morning before the history-making event began. “So I signed up and here I am.”

In all, more than 800 people raced in three events over two days under the Three Sisters Marathon moniker, a nod to the still-standing iconic smokestacks of the former Schoolfield Mill on the site of Caesars Virginia’s casino.

At 7:20 a.m. — the start was slightly delayed so that all road blocks were secured — Danville Vice Mayor James Buckner fired the starting pistol, and the

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