Park City Marathon & Half-Marathon
With its mid August 17th date, the Park City Marathon and Half Marathon allows runners to experience the beautiful late summer scenery and cool mountain weather of this trendy Utah ski town located just 30 miles east of Salt Lake City. This event is also part of the "Triple Trail Challenge" a 3-Stage race that includes the Jupiter Peak Steeplechase (Aug 3, 2013), Park City Full or Half Marathon and Mid-Mountain Marathon (Sept. 7, 2013). This event has sold out for the past few years with 500 Full and 1000 Half so be sure to register early!
You won’t find a more beautiful and varied course anywhere in the country!
- 17 miles of wide gravel or paved bike paths with the balance on quiet streets
- Scenic vistas and wildlife, no "urban ugly" sections
- 8 mile mostly downhill finish
- Loop course marathon and out-and-back half marathon - no shuttle!
- Custom artisanal - quality glass 'sun-catcher' finisher medal
- Music on course
Course Description
Start time is 6:30 AM for the Marathon. This unique, scenic alpine loop course starts out from the Newpark Plaza and onto Highland Drive. A quick right/left at 1.5 miles puts the runners through the gentle upgrade of the Trailside residential area and past Trailside school/park. At this point the runners move onto paved and then gravel bike paths before getting back onto Highland Drive. Rolling downhill for approximately 1 mile, runners then turn right (tiny bit rough here, watch your footing) and through the first tunnel of the course, which goes under the highway and onto the quiet paved road which terminates at the Historic Rail Trail. Runners then turn right and proceed along the smooth gravel Rail Trail for approximately 7 miles of gentle upgrade (2%), past open grazing land (yes, sometimes there are cows on the path) and beaver ponds. There is one road crossing in this section, manned by Utah Highway Patrol. The Rail Trail welcomes the runners into Park City with paved/gravel pathways. Upon crossing Bonanza Drive, runners will continue the upward trend on the paved Poison Creek Trail (a remnant of our mining history) through City Park. Look to your right for great views of some 2002 Olympic ski runs. Traversing several short tunnels (one painted with a mural depiction of Park City's mining heritage), the runners head to the Snow Park Lodge at Deer Valley (the course high point) before looping back to the Poison Creek Trail. Here the course turns west and guides runners through a fun section which has them running down the middle of an open shopping mall, a pedestrian bridge over Main Street, and across a skier bridge. A short, steep uphill 'blip' puts runners at the top of Empire Avenue and the start of the mostly downhill cruise to the finish. Runners will be on quiet city streets as they head past Park City Mountain Resort, along rolling hills near the municipal golf course, and back onto a paved bike path which takes runners to the historic McPolin barn depicted on our logo and finisher t-shirts. Another tunnel, some wood plank bridges over the pristine wetlands of the Swaner Nature Preserve and a paved bike path return to Newpark Plaza--it's pretty enough to (almost) want to do it again!
"I hope you can come out to the Park City Marathon next year. It is a wonderful race in a beautiful location. Race support and organization are excellent. Personally, I love the fact that a good portion of the race is run on hard pack dirt which really saves a beating on my legs." Dave Moore, Road Runners Club of America
“The Park City Marathon is a race any runner worth his shoe laces would be remiss to pass up” Dane Rauschenberg, Author of See Dane Run
“The course was gorgeous - rolling hills and mountains surrounded us and a gorgeous altitude sunrise started the run. Nearly all of the running was on trails and paved bike paths and the organizers did an excellent job supporting the course. Aid stations were appropriately placed and every station after mile 10 had some nourishment in addition to the drinks.” Dave Naffziger on August 24, 2008
