The Scranton Half Marathon course gives runners of all backgrounds and ability levels the opportunity to experience the City of Scranton from a unique perspective. The course is predominantly roads/blacktop, with a small section of crushed stone trails, which provides a physiological and psychological respite at the perfect point late …
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The Scranton Half Marathon course gives runners of all backgrounds and ability levels the opportunity to experience the City of Scranton from a unique perspective. The course is predominantly roads/blacktop, with a small section of crushed stone trails, which provides a physiological and psychological respite at the perfect point late in the race!
Participants will be greeted with a few gentle climbs and descents within the first 3 miles of the course as it weaves through the historic and welcoming neighborhood section of Green Ridge.
The course then heads south on Wyoming and North Washington Ave. where it enters Downtown Scranton at the 5.5 mile mark.
As runners exit downtown via Cedar Avenue the course takes you past Scranton’s Iron Furnaces (a State Historic Site that pays tribute to the City’s proud iron and coal heritage) and into South Scranton.
Turning right on Elm Street will bring runners to the Lackawanna River Heritage Trailhead at the 7.5 mile mark. Here runners will get to experience all the natural beauty Scranton has to offer.
Exiting the trail, runners will take a final loop at PennFed Field at Memorial Stadium, which is where this 13.1 adventure began. YAY… you get to finish on the track like an Olympian!
The Scranton Half Marathon has given over $450,000 in its first ten years to the Lackawanna Heritage Valley Authority for the beautification and safety of the city of Scranton.
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I plan to run this course again
Scranton was a cool place to run with its rolling hills. The people were great and it was well organized. The weather was perfect and the starting line was in … MORE
Scranton was a cool place to run with its rolling hills. The people were great and it was well organized. The weather was perfect and the starting line was in a good location on the high school’s track. The medal was cool and they had plenty of food and drinks for recovery after the race. There were some top competitors who entered the race and the top finishers were announced at the end. I didn’t stay for the announcements so I’m not sure about the prize. They provided blankets after the race so I grabbed one and walked to my ride waiting outside the gate. I had fun!
City then paved trail course
The race starts right out side the stadium. Plenty of bathrooms and area to warm up. The first half of the race is through Scranton and then about 4 miles … MORE
The race starts right out side the stadium. Plenty of bathrooms and area to warm up. The first half of the race is through Scranton and then about 4 miles on a paved trail. There is a short half mile stretch of unpaved course through the woods. The T-shirt was awesome. It is a long sleeve tech shirt that is seafoam color. Favorite t-shirt out of any race.
Great Fall Half Marathon
Good half marathon in Scranton, PA - Excellent post race food and decent swag giveaways. The weather held up pretty well, but the walk back to the hotel was extremely … MORE
Good half marathon in Scranton, PA – Excellent post race food and decent swag giveaways. The weather held up pretty well, but the walk back to the hotel was extremely cold. I would definitely run this race again.
Covid go away
Never got to experience the full experience of this race yet because of covid. Ran the course without anyone on it. Course is a city run ending next to the … MORE
Never got to experience the full experience of this race yet because of covid. Ran the course without anyone on it. Course is a city run ending next to the river to help you push as fast as the flow.
3rd year and not disappointed
This is my 3rd time doing this event- I did it the inaugural year (this was my first ever half marathon), the 2nd year and then this year. Its a … MORE
This is my 3rd time doing this event- I did it the inaugural year (this was my first ever half marathon), the 2nd year and then this year.
Its a great local race! Here are the things that I enjoyed about the race:
*The communication: emails, instagram, fb posts, and more. They are always communicating with you!
*Parking- they give you options, they are easy, walk able and convenient
*Finishing on the track: its fun and exciting and a great way to end a race
*The crowd support- for such a small race, its amazing to see how the town gets all into it, I love it!
*Running in Scranton; i love this city and its a cool way to see it
*It’s a relatively easy course with some hills, but its an enjoyable course (for the most part)
*Lots of water stops, great volunteers
*The swag- the medals are always great and I love the fleece blankets at the end. I also like the extra swag you can purchase- this was super important to me when I was doing my first half. I have a lot of bling!
*The after party and free beer at some of the local bars! A cool way to hang out and celebrate your victory!
Some things that could be improved (and knowing this race is new, I think they will work out the kinks)
*the trail portion- it gets too crowded and congested
*the t-shirt sizing runs a little small
*the expo; its a little lack luster, but the Scranton Running company is my favorite booth