The Escalante Canyons Marathon is a challenging race through a wildly scenic landscape. With the Boulder Mountains and Dixie National Forest as a backdrop, the marathon and half marathon traverse slickrock country on a well-maintained Scenic Byway deemed one of the world’s most beautiful roads. The courses are point-to-point between …
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The Escalante Canyons Marathon is a challenging race through a wildly scenic landscape. With the Boulder Mountains and Dixie National Forest as a backdrop, the marathon and half marathon traverse slickrock country on a well-maintained Scenic Byway deemed one of the world’s most beautiful roads. The courses are point-to-point between Boulder, Utah, and Escalante, Utah. Highlights of the marathon course include the Hogsback, Calf’s Creek canyon, Head of the Rocks overlook, and views of the Straight Cliffs on the approach to Escalante. The half marathon starts at the halfway point of the marathon course and also offers gorgeous views. The 5K starts up Pine Creek Canyon, is mostly downhill through forest and farmlands, and ends at the finish line shared by the marathon and half.
Along with the beauty of the courses, the event runs through the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and is close to three national parks — Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon, and Zion — with unlimited opportunities for outdoor exploration and recreation.
The ECM is a small non-profit race organized by volunteers from the small communities along Scenic Byway 12. Our major sponsor is Garfield County, through their focus on supporting communities in Bryce Canyon Country. The race has been run every year since 2012, and we are dedicated to keeping it running for many years to come!
Whether you’ve already registered or are still thinking about it for this year or future years, whether you’re running the ECM for the first time or are among our treasured return runners, we look forward to seeing you on the second Saturday of October, the race date each year. We can promise that it will be one of your most unforgettable experiences ever.
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Wonderful Race!
This race was a lovely course put on by a nice crew. I have run 40 marathons so far and I always look back on this one as one of … MORE
This race was a lovely course put on by a nice crew. I have run 40 marathons so far and I always look back on this one as one of my favorites because of the gorgeous scenery. The post race food was awesome, you can never go wrong with homemade pies! The aid stations and volunteers were great. It is a small race so when you come across the finish line it’s very special because everyone is whooping and hollering just for you!! The course on the road made it easy for my family to drive along and meet me at certain points for encouragement. They had a great and easy time soaking up the scenery too so it’s nice to know your cheer squad can have fun and not be bored. The location is a bit remote so you will need to drive or have a rental car, the remoteness is all part of this race’s charm though. I would definitely run this race again, they do a great job!