More than 5,000 runners and an estimated 30,000 spectators thronged the
streets of this suburb of the Denver metropolitan area at the spring
2008 running of Aurora's Colorado Colfax Marathon & Half
Marathon, whose 13.1-mile race features a long, straight out-and-back
course that starts and finishes at Denver's City Park and takes runners
along two long parallel straightaway runs from the park to the
turnaround and back, including some steady elevation climbs.
From the starting line at Denver City Park, a 330-acre urban park
located in the east-central part of the city and home to both the
Denver Zoo and the city's Museum of Nature and Science, the race takes
runners around City Park Lake, past Duck Lake and out onto Colorado
Boulevard for the first mile or so of the race. After the turn onto
Colorado,
runners head south for three blocks and then turn left onto
East Colfax Avenue, which they follow for the next five and a half
miles to the turn at Ursula Street.
As runners follow the course east, they also hit a long, slow and
steady climb in elevation, rising from roughly 5,250 feet above sea
level at the start to about 5,400 feet above sea level at the highest
point in the race, which occurs between the sixth and seventh mile
markers (just as runners are nearing the half-way turn). After the high
point, the course follows the turn along Ursula and then onto East 17th
Avenue, which runners take west all the way back to the Denver City
Park, encountering a number of small hills along the way.
Runners finish the race just a stone's throw from where they started,
as the last mile or so of the race takes the field from 17th back into
the park. As they're heading back toward the heart of Denver through
Aurora along 17th, runners also can enjoy the city skyline, marked by
the downtown skyscrapers as well as Invesco Field, home of the NFL's
Denver Broncos. The terrain for the race is paved surfaces throughout
the course, and there is also a wheelchair marathon and a full marathon
team relay event.
Race
Weather & Climate
Located near the Colorado Rockies and just to the southeast of downtown
Denver, Aurora typically experiences warmer but often still cool
weather conditions in the mid-spring, with occasional wet weather. In
May, average monthly temperatures range between 71°F and
40°F, while precipitation totals average around 2.85 inches for
the month, making May the area's wettest month of the year on average.
Fees
N/A
Registration
Online registration is not yet open for the spring 2009 running of the
Post-News Colorado Colfax Marathon & Half Marathon. Please
check back later for updated information on how to sign up for the
race.
