Refuse along the Roanoke River left by flooding from last week's storm won't hamper a half-marathon riverside run Saturday.

A lot of debris washed into the trees along the Roanoke River Greenway on Nov. 12 when the water level rose to 10 1/2 feet at the Walnut Street bridge, according to Gary Hegner, Roanoke's parks superintendent. That is about 8 feet deeper than normal, he said.

There is visible rubbish along the banks -- a Cheez-It bag here, a Gatorade bottle there -- and strands of blue, tan and white plastic bags hang on tree branches. The rising water left piles of dead leaves covering the trees from the ground up to 6 feet or higher in some places.

"We had a flood, so that's the way it is," said Barry Brewer, the DePaul Community Resources Star City Half Marathon race director. "Runners don't care. They're out to run."

The greenway's path along the river wasn't damaged, and city crews have cleared most debris from the path and adjacent grounds.

"We're looking at it from safety first, functionality second and aesthetics third," Hegner said. "It's really just the aesthetics part that's missing."

Volunteers and city crews will clean up the garbage as soon as possible, temperature permitting, he said. Clean Valley Day, a volunteer cleanup planned for the spring, likely will focus on clearing the trash, Hegner added.

On Saturday, race day, the half-marathon will follow the greenway for about seven miles from Smith Park in Southwest Roanoke to Bennington Street Southeast and loop through neighborhoods at either end to complete the full 13.1 miles, Brewer said. Trail construction will detour the course for a quarter mile near Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital.

Brewer said he expects about 400 participants.