City of Manchester Marathon/Half Marathon

Course highlights

From the starting line on Elm, which is home to Manchester’s government and banking center and is known as a bustling area during both the daytime and evening, runners first head south from Veterans Memorial Park and then west toward the river onto Commercial Street, which they follow northward for about the next three miles, as the stretch along Commercial gives way to a run along River Road, which runners follow until it curves eastward to the turn onto Union Street. The next stretch of the race, which takes runners south on Union and then east along Campbell before turning on Juniper into Livingston Park, features some of the half marathon route’s larger hills. Runners can expect the elevation to rise from roughly 200 feet above sea level near the starting line to around 400 feet between the mile 4 and mile 5 markers, and after that the race features rolling hills along a gradual descent throughout the rest of the course back into the finish line. The stretch of the race that runs through Livingston Park features a run along the edges of Doors Pond, which lies right in the middle of the park, and then puts the field back out onto Red Coat Lane and back into the city’s neighborhoods and streets. The latter half of the race also features a mix of city blocks and streets with runs past some of its tree-lined parks, including Derryfield Park and Stevens Pond Park, and after a couple more turns there’s a last final and long straightaway stretch into the race finish area and Athlete’s Village at Veterans Park.