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Experience a 26.2 mile course that has received a 98% overall satisfaction rating by past participants. The Community First Fox Cities Marathon is the featured weekend event and attracts people from all over the world where they experience one of the most community supported races in the country.
The Community First Fox Cities Marathon features over 7 miles of paved trail running, the longest pedestrian bridge in Wisconsin – the 1,600 foot Fox Cities Trestle Trail Bridge, and many more miles of scenic park and waterfront sections. The course begins on Midway Road in Menasha and continues to make its way through six Fox Cities communities before finishing at scenic Riverside Park near downtown Neenah.
The ThedaCare Half Marathon course features nearly 3 miles of paved trail running, the longest pedestrian bridge in Wisconsin – the 1,600 foot Fox Cities Trestle Trail Bridge, and many more miles of scenic park and waterfront sections of the course!
Orthopedic & Sports Medicine Specialists Relay Marathon
Round up your family, friends, or co-workers and get in on the excitement of the OSMS Relay Marathon! Relay teams are comprised of 2-5 people, each running one (or more) leg of the race and hands off the MYLAPS timing tag to the next runner at pre-set Relay Exchange Zones.
Fleet Feet 10K
Run, jog or walk the exciting Fleet Feet 10K! A 6.2 mile course, starting and finishing at Riverside Park in Neenah, you’ll experience an energy and excitement unmatched at any other 10K event!
Ascension 5K Run/Walk
Fight Cancer with the St. Elizabeth Hospital Foundation Cancer Fund when you run the Ascension 5K Run/Walk. Run, jog or walk the exciting 3.1 mile course, starting and finishing at Riverside Park in Neenah all while raising funds for cancer research!
As a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, the Community First Fox Cities Marathon gives back to area non-profits, community partners and running organizations. Over our 34-year history, the event has returned more than $1.3 million to the community.
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Awesome event production!
This is a well-done event with the amount of volunteers and community support throughout the entire course. Water stations at pretty much every mile, lots of scenic trails, fruit & … MORE
This is a well-done event with the amount of volunteers and community support throughout the entire course. Water stations at pretty much every mile, lots of scenic trails, fruit & gel stations. I loved having my name on the bib, and how people were on the course cheering participants on the whole time. Easy finish line and food tent. I had transportation provided back to my car. I found the race app good for my family to track me. I thought this was well organized and the fact that it goes through 7 different communities is impressive. Will be doing this again in 2023.
Hometown Race with Big Time Fun
From amazing swag to the most supportive community this race makes sure you were taken care of every step of the way. They have volunteers everywhere and they are all … MORE
From amazing swag to the most supportive community this race makes sure you were taken care of every step of the way. They have volunteers everywhere and they are all so happy to be party of the weekend of events. They have a race for every pace fro toddlers to marathoners and everything in between.
Flat Race but boring scenery for Lake
Just moving to Wisconsin 2yrs before, I had always wanted to go to Lake Winnebago & the race was when I would visit. However, the course was really boring & … MORE
Just moving to Wisconsin 2yrs before, I had always wanted to go to Lake Winnebago & the race was when I would visit. However, the course was really boring & the only area with water view was along a nice bridge trail but smelled awful.
For Race Swag, everything inside the bag was great but the shirt & medal are probably the most plain & boring I have ever received. I received better medals & shirts through $25 5Ks but this is a $100+ race & you’d expect something better than a crappy baggy A4 polyester shirt with a boring logo. Then the medal is easily the worst among my 15 half or full races. Literally looks like something they thought of a day before the race. Wouldn’t be surprised if they re-use the same medal to dip into savings.
I will say the one great thing about it is the volunteers & pedestrians. They were very energetic & it was great to see them out between 8 to 9am on a Sunday.
One negative is that the start & finish line are a 15min bus drive apart. The finish line isn’t scenic at all & sake goes with the start. This is the first race I have done where the start & finish line are not a walk away. Just such a plain boring finish line that it doesn’t make you wanting to stay in the area to enjoy the city.
Pretty Solid Race
Great aid stations, decent expo. I ran this a few years ago but I remember everything being pretty smooth, but I remember not being astounded by the swag or expo … MORE
Great aid stations, decent expo. I ran this a few years ago but I remember everything being pretty smooth, but I remember not being astounded by the swag or expo purchases to be honest, so maybe a little more pizzazz on that front.
The course has a ton of turns and some nice scenic spots at times, but it feels a bit forced in the city to be honest. Easily PR’able and great aid stations.
The only main gripe I have is how the marathon and half marathon join back together. When you get walkers in front of you on a 6 foot-wide bridge and trail while you’re trying to crank out the last few miles, it is extremely frustrating.
Either stagger start times more or pick different days for the race, because that’s my main memory is having to duck and dodge people walking.
Nice flat Wisconsin race
I traveled from central Illinois to run this race. -Race expo had tons of goodies. Stock up on all the free swag and coupons you want. -The start line is … MORE
I traveled from central Illinois to run this race.
-Race expo had tons of goodies. Stock up on all the free swag and coupons you want.
-The start line is at the UW-Fox Cities campus, but don’t expect to be able to just drive up to the same building you picked up your packet at. If the parking lots are full, people will park at whatever businesses they want, a half mile down the road from the start line (Midway Road in Menasha). And I guess that was allowable. I parked at some auto repair shop, and nobody towed me away or complained.
-It was warmer than I had hoped. It got up to 79 degrees by the end of my marathon, probably a freak occurrence for mid-Sept in central Wisconsin. The entire rest of this week has been highs of 64-65.
-The best thing about this marathon is that they put your name on the bib, and EVERYONE cheers you on by name! I probably heard total stranger spectators cheer me on by name over a hundred times this race!
-Watch out for the straight stretch of road from miles 18-22. I am a runner who loves turns every half-mile or so. And I hate running on concrete roads in the 75 degree sun. I also broke my sunglasses at mile 15. There was ~4 miles of straight concrete road between 18-22, zero shade, that I really struggled with.
-There was a bridge over 3/4 mile of inlet from Lake Winnebago just before mile 23. Maybe the prettiest part of the race.
-Gu was provided at miles 14 and 21. Water and Gatorade roughly every mile.
-It was nice finishing in downtown Neenah, and there were tons of small snacks to pick up post race!
-Since the finish was 5 miles from the start, you have to take a bus back to the start. My uncle picked me up, so I can’t speak to how good the bus was.
-May not have been as scenic as Milwaukee Lakefront or Madison supposedly are, but if you’re a 50 stater like me, consider this one because there aren’t too many other good mid-September races out there (and the Fox Cities are pretty cool too).
Thanks Fox Cities!
*note: at mile 22, you cross two bridges. One is short, like 500 feet, and then suddenly there was a fork in the road and no cones or volunteers to tell you which way to go. I yelled for help, and someone suggested the correct way to go was right, across another bridge for 3/4 mile. Thank goodness he was correct. Fox Cities, if you see this, please mark that turn more clearly next year. If not for this, I would give race production 5 stars.
Well organized, great spectators
I originally signed up for the full marathon but had to drop down to the half due to an injury during training. I signed up early so I only paid … MORE
I originally signed up for the full marathon but had to drop down to the half due to an injury during training. I signed up early so I only paid $75 for the full. I was charged $15 to switch to the half, I was OK with that since most races don’t allow transferring. At the time the half was $100 which is a really pricey half marathon in this area. Nonetheless, the half marathon field seems to be consistently large, over 2000 runners. By contrast the full marathon field is less than 600 runners. There is also a 5K and full marathon relay.
The course is a large loop which does not quite meet, so the finish line is in a separate location from the start. Shuttle buses were provided at Park and Ride locations. The half marathon course shares the first 2 miles of the full course, then splits off and heads northward before rejoining the marathon course at the end. Both races start at the same time and they finish in the same place.
This year the race experienced record high temps, about 30 degrees higher than the norm, with temps in the 80’s by 9:00 AM and hitting 90 by 1:00 PM. Race organizers handled this well with communications warning about the heat and taking additional steps to ensure that water was available and adding a misting station, popsicles, cooling buses, and cooling tanks at the finish. Full marathoners could drop to the half with no fee and receive $20 towards next year’s marathon.
The half course goes through many residential neighborhoods and many people put out sprinklers and set up their own misters. They also had their own water, lemonade, and ice stations. This was all greatly appreciated. The sections in the neighborhood were shaded but in the last 3 miles there was not a lot of shade.
The half course went through the neighborhoods, through an industrial area by the Kimberly Clark plant, and along some bike paths by the waterfront. There were no significant hills on the course. Due to being part of the full course, water stops were plentiful with 10 stops on the half course. There was also a station for GU, which oddly was not near a water stop.
There were a large number of spectators as well as entertainment stations on the course. The finish is at a large park. Post race food included sandwiches from Arby’s, chocolate milk, fruit, cookies, and water. Race swag was a tech tee for the half marathon, a long sleeve tee for the full, and a drawstring bag. A friend picked up my bib for me so I did not attend the Expo.
Overall, I thought the race was very well-organized and it is a fun event due to the spectators and course entertainment. Volunteers were plentiful and friendly. I do not go to the Fox Cities area often so it was interesting to run in a different place.