Three Sisters Marathon, Half Marathon & 5K
Danville, VA
- Marathon, Marathon Relay, Half Marathon, Half Marathon Relay, 5K
- Road (Paved)
- Official race website
Get ready for an exhilarating weekend of inclusion, fun, and community spirit at the Three Sisters Marathon Weekend! Join as we celebrate runners of all levels with a spectacular lineup of events that promise something for everyone. Set in the beautiful city of Danville, Virginia, this event offers a memorable … MORE
Local Historical Weather (Sep 11):
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | |
| H (°F) | 81 | 82 | 86 | 81 | 84 |
| L (°F) | 62 | 51 | 64 | 69 | 53 |
Find Nearby Lodging (hotel, rental, etc.):
Race director ruined experience
As a back of pack runner, race director called me to tell me I would probably not finish and to consider not running. 23 hours before the race, they told … MORE
As a back of pack runner, race director called me to tell me I would probably not finish and to consider not running. 23 hours before the race, they told runners they had a new cut off at the 13.1 mile. Race director was rude and I will not run this event again. Water stations ran out of water the last 13.1 miles.
Absolutely Brutal
It genuinely pains me to say this since 2025 was the inaugural race, but this is very brutal. HOT + HUMID: I legitimately thought I would pass out and/or not … MORE
It genuinely pains me to say this since 2025 was the inaugural race, but this is very brutal.
HOT + HUMID: I legitimately thought I would pass out and/or not finish. It was already in the 70s at 7 am and extremely humid. We were in direct sunlight for the majority of the course, so we also had to worry about hydration.
HILLY: This race is advertised as your last chance to PR for Boston, and yet the elevation gain was nearly 1500 feet. The two major uphill climbs were around mile 10-15 and miles 23-26. Because of the hills and weather, I decided to just power walk most of the course because running would be way too difficult!
I do love the vibe of the citizens and volunteers! The volunteers staying outside to help us were wonderful and I’ll always be grateful for them! The citizens came out to cheer us on, which helped a lot! I felt like the production of the race (ex. communication emails, race website) were great! I got a lot of clear information and knew what to do!
Unfortunately this has become my least favorite race. I feel like it’s a major risk to have runners out in the sunlight this early in September. If it was held in October, then I feel like it would be more doable. There is no way I would be willing to do this race again. *Race director and volunteers were wonderful, and I know they had nothing to do with the weather conditions*
Solid 5K + Half, Lots to Improve On
This was the inaugural year for the race, so I knew there would be tons of areas for improvement/learning opportunities and to take the weekend as a casual 'this is … MORE
This was the inaugural year for the race, so I knew there would be tons of areas for improvement/learning opportunities and to take the weekend as a casual ‘this is for fun, there will be hiccups’ – I think everybody came with that mindset, which helped make this a really relaxed vibe from the athletes.
Pros:
-The race website was well done. The video they did advertising the city absolutely convinced me this would be a fun race to do for my Virginia half
– Solid race communication ahead of time – several emails with comprehensive information in the weeks leading up, lots of updates on Facebook in the months leading up to the weekend.
– Friday night 5K and Saturday morning half/full – love when races do that because I only need to book a hotel for one night and figure out meals for a 24 hour period, which is ideal in a smaller town and within a four hour drive of home
– Medals were super well done, real show pieces
– It felt like Virginia (even only being one exit into the state) and the South, which is important to me on my 50 states journey.
– 5K and half course were solid – getting to run by all the old houses (Millionaire’s Row), the revitalized buildings that used to be warehouses/for manufacturing, and the Dan River was awesome. Lots of hills including toward the finish line – the rebranding of ‘victory hill’ is a nice spin and helped with the final climbs
– Incredible crowd support, honestly. A lot of people came out from the nice houses and downtown area and cheered on runners for both days. It was more crowd support than we get at any of our races in South Carolina, so that was a blast.
– Generally everyone in town was super nice
Cons:
-No updates on Facebook the week of the race
– Parking and race location information didn’t appear on the website until AFTER the 5K. The roads were closed for the race, so using GPS was a nightmare trying to figure out how to get to the McDonalds parking lot and none of the volunteers knew how to get us there. Directions and a physical address for out of towners are needed for next year. In theory, it’d be great if they could just use the Casino as a host hotel and parking lot, but the hotel rooms are like $500 a night and I think they allow smoking, so probably not going to happen. LOL.
– Generic long sleeved shirts. Got one for the 5K and one for the half marathon, so two white long sleeved tech shirts with the logos on them for doing the double. Love the logo, so I don’t mind that, but maybe a t shirt for the 5K and long sleeve for the half/full in the future.
– Hotels were expensive for where we were. The Casino is driving up the prices in town, so we paid a lot of money for a room across the river. Host hotels wanted a minimum of two nights, so we just stayed across the river and drove in. NBD once we knew what roads were closed and how to take back roads to get to the McDonalds parking lot, which was only like .3 miles from the start/finish line. And the McDonalds employees were awesome, they came out for both races and handed out ice water and just enjoyed watching the runners. And they were chill with us using their bathrooms before the races.
– Race started late. No explanation given, just an announcement that the marathon would be starting later and then the half marathon would start fifteen minutes after. It wasn’t weather related and the roads were all closed, so IDK what the delay was. Race was supposed to start at 7am for marathoners and 715am for half marathoners (IDK, there were only 100. marathoners…), so it got pushed to starting at like 720 and 745 or something? It was chaotic, especially since they pushed the weekend as a last chance to BQ.
– HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT AND HUMID – it was already 70* at 7am and 100% humidity. So starting 30+ min late was a nightmare. ((We live in SC, we’re usually done with our long runs and back in bed with our cats by 8am.)) And direct sunlight for most of the course. We walked a LOT in the later half and I still managed to finish in the top 1/3 of half marathon women with my 2:30 finish time. But the vibe was good – everybody was in it together (trauma bonding, lol). The marathon course went across the river for miles and then back – when we left town a few hours later we saw lots of marathoners walking in direct sunlight (miles 18-20) and just hanging out at water stops chugging hot water. So I’m not sure how many people actually BQed and how many just pushed through and were just grateful to finish.
– Some weird electrolyte mix on the course, not gatorade or Powerade. So if your stomach can’t handle mystery mix, bring your own. I can’t do anything ‘healthy’ mix wise, so I was out of luck. And I’d sweated my soul out by mile five, so I wasn’t getting on top of anything.
– We watched the race pick up the marathon course with a LOT of runners still on the road. That’s the downside of delaying the start and having so many people in unfavorable conditions – the permit runs out before the runners do. So if you’re a back of the pack marathoner, this isn’t the race for you. If you’re a back of the pack half marathoner, come on down for some good vibes and views.
So, not the worst inaugural year. I loved the half course, the vibe of the town, and the medals. I think this has good bones and will grow into something special, but it may be better to drop the ‘last chance to BQ’ and push it into October when the temperatures are more favorable.