Henderson Newcastle Marathon and Half Marathon (fka Newcastle Festival of Running)
Newcastle, Australia
- Marathon, Half Marathon
- Road (Paved)
- Official race website
With a goal to become one of Australia’s leading regional running events, NewRun is staged in the most iconic venues in Newcastle and offers plenty of opportunity to test your fitness around this beautiful coastal city. The event is proud to partner with local organisations including Surf Life Saving Clubs, … MORE
Local Historical Weather (Apr 19):
| 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | |
| H (°C) | 21 | 27 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
| L (°C) | 9 | 15 | 13 | 16 | 17 |
Find Nearby Lodging (hotel, rental, etc.):
Fab scenery but oh the hills.
I entered this race as part of a challenge to myself to run two half-marathons over back-to-back weekends. This was the first of the two. This event was a typical … MORE
I entered this race as part of a challenge to myself to run two half-marathons over back-to-back weekends. This was the first of the two. This event was a typical small city event. No real expo as such… a few small tents in a field and a long line-up for bib and T-shirt collection.
I made the mistake of booking a budget pub hotel with the room being smack-bang above a night-club. The room vibrated from about 9pm – 3am…. arrgh
At the start of the race the weather was cool and overcast. The course is basically a bunch of out and backs. The first 5ks was relatively flat and the run out to the light-house and back was lovely and scenic, though the path was a bit narrow and congested. After heading back from the lighthouse the hills started, at first they were undulating but then it became a serious climb, which after summiting was a long downhill run to a neighbouring beach front. At the beachfront there was a turnaround, which was also the start-line for the 10k event. Thankfully I got around that before the hoard of 10k runners were released. They came charging up behind me about 5 minutes later as I was heading back up and over the hill. Once coming back over the headland there is another up and back to the light-house and another out and back which takes you torturously close to the the finish line. At about 19km it started to lightly rain. Soon after I finished it began to bucket down, as such there was no one handing out finisher medals but rather you had to go and find them and help yourself in the organisers tent. The medal was pretty ordinary. I felt bad for those that placed as all medal presentations had to be delayed until later in the week due to the torrential rain.
Overall it was kind of nice for a small city event, though I would’t run it again… the out and back nature and the hills aren’t worth it.