Chanukah Run-a-Latke 5K
Swampscott, MA
- 5K
- Road (Paved)
- Official race website
Warm up dancing to live klezmer music before racing a flat, scenic 5K loop along Swampscott’s shoreline, then enjoy latkes at the finish line!
Local Historical Weather (Dec 29):
| 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | |
| H (°F) | 38 | 45 | 51 | 42 | 43 |
| L (°F) | 30 | 40 | 29 | 34 | 24 |
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Fast, Festive, and Fun Family Tradition
This is a 5K in Swampscott, MA on the Northshore to celebrate Chanukah. My family and I have participated in this race several times. I believe this was my 4th … MORE
This is a 5K in Swampscott, MA on the Northshore to celebrate Chanukah. My family and I have participated in this race several times. I believe this was my 4th year running it. It is a really fun, well done, smaller 5K with a few hundred runners. It starts at a synagogue and there is good pre race communication and easy street parking. There is always cute swag. This year was a running latke bean bag phone stands. It’s actual quite cute and useful. The race starts with a prayer by the rabbi of the synagogue and the course is chip timed and a lollipop loop. it is a very nice course with ocean views and through nice neighborhoods. Its also well marked and mostly flat with just a few minor hills/inclines which is the best course for me. My only complaint about the course is the roads are open and one is a bit busy but most races in MA have open courses. I had a goal to run a 5K under 35 minutes and I knew this was the race to do it. I was very happy to have what I think was my fastest 5K in 3 years and completed my goal of under 35 minutes. This year they brought back the delicious breakfast feast. The feast was there in 2019 when I did the race before covid but the past couple years had more limited selection but this year was a whole breakfast spread. It was also kosher and since there was dairy products served there could not be any meat so everything was vegetarian except lox. The latkes were especially delicious. Overall this is a really fun race that I will continue to do if I am in town and don’t need to go into work.
Great, smaller 5K
This is an annual 5K celebrating Chanukah in Swampscott, MA. I have done this race a few times as it was often held when I was home for the holidays. … MORE
This is an annual 5K celebrating Chanukah in Swampscott, MA. I have done this race a few times as it was often held when I was home for the holidays. In the past it has been the first weekend of Chanukah so I thought I would be out of town this year but this year they had the race at the end of Chanukah and it worked well as today was empty in my race schedule. My last review has most of the details. This year was the biggest race yet with a couple hundred participants. It was a very nice, hopeful event given all the current world events. Packet pick-up was interesting as they had a list of bibs by name and the bibs in envelopes with letter of last name and you just grabbed your bib. Worked efficiently but not sure if anyone took the wrong bib. Again there is a really nice baseball shirt although I didn’t see the mugs they had last year. The race is chip timed and it is a really nice course with some ocean views and is well marked with police at an major intersections. My only complaint about the course is it is not closed and sometimes I had to run on the sidewalk. Although I understand logistically for a smaller race like this, they are probably not about to close the roads for a small race like this so I didn’t take off a sneaker. My finishing time was pretty terrible as my lungs are still a bit junky from whatever I caught after Thanksgiving but I was faster than last week. At the end there are delicious latkes. I will continue to do this race as long as it fits in with the rest of my racing schedule especially as I am now back living in New England.
Great Coastal 5K
This is a 5K that always starts the first day of Chanukah and is located in Swampscott, MA which is on the coast north of Boston. I also did this … MORE
This is a 5K that always starts the first day of Chanukah and is located in Swampscott, MA which is on the coast north of Boston. I also did this race in 2019 as well. The race starts at the Jewish Center in Swampscott. There is a race day packet pick-up which always includes a very cute baseball style long sleeve shirt. There were also mugs with chocolate coins. This is a smaller race with about 100 participants. This year I decided to walk the race with my mom to play it safe because of my foot injury (which is feeling better so I should be fine for my upcoming half marathons). The race starts with a really nice prayer from the rabbi. Then the racers go. It is a really nice course. There are beautiful ocean views and it is a very scenic neighborhood. It is a lollipop loop. It is on the flatter side but there are some inclines and one hill in the middle but it is a fast course. When I ran it in 2019 I ran it in 30:24. Since I walked with my mom I was obviously slow this year but we were well under 1 hour. It is chipped time. After the race there is a band and food. In 2019 it was very festive with tons of community members, a huge spread of food including latkes and other traditional Jewish foods and a band with dancing. This year due to covid it was appropriately a little more subdued. There were less community members but there was the band outside and there were still some delicious latkes. This is one of the best smaller, community races I have done. I don’t plan around 5K races but I usually visit NH a lot between Thanksgiving and New Years so if I am visiting again during this race I will likely do it again.