Fall Foliage Half Marathon & 5K

Course highlights

Both the half marathon and the 5K race follow out-and-back courses that are set to start and finish near the Dutchess County Fairgrounds, which lies just off Mulberry Street and Platt Avenue.

From there, the 13.1-mile race route will follow what is mostly a counter-clockwise loop route from the center of the town out into the rural farm fields that lie just north of the village of Rhinebeck, which is home to just over 3,000 residents.

The first 3 1/2 miles of the course are really the flattest of the race, as runners start out by heading east along Rhinecliff Road, right on Mill Street and then right on Mill Road, which starts the stretch that takes runners south from the village and into the countryside.

The changing colors of the leaves and the trees will make the early and middle parts of the course some of the race’s most scenic, as runners head south along Mill Road and then turn left around the mile 3 marker onto South Mill Road.

Between miles 4 and 5, runners experience the race’s first real hills, the first of a number of mostly gently rolling hills they’ll encounter over the next few miles. After about a mile and a half along Hook Road, runners then turn right onto Cove Road, where they begin a loop that will take them near the shoreline of Vanderburgh Cove.

When South Mill Road meets back up with Morton Road — just as runners are making their way between mile markers 7 and 8 — runners then start the stretch that takes them closest to the banks of the Hudson River.

The stretch along Rhinecliff Road leads into the village of Rhinecliff and a brief loop along the town streets there, passing by the Amtrak station that looks out onto the water. A couple of quick turns in Rhinecliff put runners onto Ryan Road, for a mile-long out-and-back stretch back into the countryside.

The final, home stretch of the race takes shape once runners make it back to Rhinecliff Road, where they turn left and then head east along Rhinecliff Road, all the way back to the library for the race finish line. Proceeds promote the efforts of the race’s beneficiary, Riverkeeper, a New York-based organization dedicated to defending the Hudson River and its tributaries.