'America's toughest road race' returns to Roanoke After being canceled last year due to the pandemic, the Blue Ridge marathon returned to Roanoke. By: WTVR CBS 6 Web Staff Posted at 8:40 AM, Apr 19, 2021 and last updated 2021-04-19 10:30:11-04 ROANOKE, Va. -- After a year off for the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, America's toughest road race was back in action last weekend. People from all over came out to take on the Foot Levelers Blue Ridge Marathon. It featured everything from a 10K to a double marathon -- that's 52.4 miles. The double marathon began several years ago, as a sort of unofficial part of the race weekend.