Marion Arts Festival 5K Run and Half Marathon
Join Marion Arts Festival 5K Run and Half Marathon
Founded in 1992 and held the third Saturday of each May, the Marion Arts Festival offers art of exceptional quality, dishing up a singular and highly anticipated event. Consistently ranked in the top tier of fine art events nationwide, the MAF has been named as being among the Top 25 festivals in the country, as the #1 show featuring 100 artists or fewer and, further, as the best one-day event in the nation.
The MAF Half Marathon and 5K Run & Fun Walk takes a flat, fast course through uptown Marion, inviting runners to experience cutting edge race technology features.
The Marion Arts Festival Half Marathon and 5K isn’t just a race, though because of the prize money and Free entry awards it attracts some of the best runners in the region. It’s an event for the whole family that you’ll remember for many years to come.
Add in a slate of specialty foods and off-beat artist demonstrations. In total, the festival offers a high caliber, fully accessible cultural experience – a day of fine art and flip flops, families and connoisseurs, fun and education.
The Marion Arts Festival deeply appreciates community and corporate sponsorships toward the event, and we treasure the individual volunteer support that goes into making each festival.
Course highlights
The Saturday morning run, which is scheduled to be entirely immersed within the MAF festivities, will begin so that it can finish in time for other festival events. The race begins in the center of Marion at the corner of 6th and 8th Street near the town’s library and City Square Park. The race first has runners heading towards Marion’s Thomas Park and through one part of the city’s trail system.
Runners should be aware that at the one half mile point of the race, runners will be filed into a single file bridge, which can slow race flow down and interfere with runners looking to maintain a steady pace.
The bridge leads runners to the Boyson trails which narrowly wind in and out of this city park. Runners will travel along some gentile hills, dirt paths and through some of the greenery in the park.
After exiting the Boyson trails, runners will pass by some of the newly constructed areas of the town and along the open and flat Tower Terrace Road and head towards Lowe Park. Here runners will again race through narrow park trails.
The route then makes a loop around Lin Mar High School Football Stadium and through the Hunters Ridge Golf Course. Here runners can once again expect more narrow pathways and hilly terrain.
Finally, runners make a trip through the Historic District of Marion for the final leg of the race, before ending up back at City Square Park and the finish line. Runners will finish the race in the middle of the MAF festivities of downtown Marion.
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The race information has been found on the official website of the event or through publicly available sources. Always refer to the official website the latest race information. Please let us know if any data is wrong or missing, by emailing us.
