Northshore Half Marathon & 10-Miler

Sunday, October 13, 2024 • Mandeville, LA • Course Map

What was once a sprawling sugar plantation along the sandy shoreline of Louisiana’s Lake Ponchartrain — and where visitors can still see the ruins of the crumbling sugar mill built there all the way back in 1829 — today serves as the launching pad for the Northshore Half Marathon on the Louisiana Northshore.

Last year’s race saw hundreds of runners cross the finish line in Fontainebleau State Park, where the race also starts.

Now a 2,800-acre state park filled with miles of hiking and nature trails, campgrounds and lakefront cabins for overnight stays, Fontainebleau got its name back in the early 1800s from its original owner, Bernard de Marigny de Mandeville, who started the sugar plantation here and named it for the forest that lies just outside Paris in his native France.

Runners and walkers — the race is open to both, as the course will remain open for 4 hours — start the race in the parking lot area near the park’s beach.

From there, the course first heads east along the park’s main road for the first mile and a half until meeting up with the Ronald Reagan Highway, where runners make a left turn to head west that parallels the Tammany Trace Trail, the biking, walking and running trail that runs into nearby Mandeville.

The tree-covered roads and trails inside the park, whose moss-covered old oak trees are typical of the Deep South, give way to more open roads and neighborhoods once runners make their way into town and turn onto Montgomery Street.

The next few miles make their way west along Montomgery, Marigny Avenue, Claiborne Street, Jefferson Street and Monroe Street along a series of turns through the city, culminating in the mid-way point of the race at the loop around Chase Court, where the neighborhood backs up into a marsh along the lakeshore.

After the loop around Chase Court, runners head south along Beach Parkway to Lakeshore Drive, the highlight of the second half of the race that takes runners along a mile of highway along the water, past homes and restaurants that have recovered since Hurricane Katrina swept through here back in 2005.

Runners make their way all the way to the end of Lakeshore Drive, which turns left and becomes Jackson Avenue, which they follow until meeting back up with the Tammany Trace Trail, where they turn right and head back into the park.

The final few miles of the race are basically the same as the early going, as runners retrace their steps of the first couple of miles along the trail into Fontainebleau State Park, and then back to the beach parking lot area for the race finish.

Race Weather & Climate

Located along the northern shore of Lake Ponchartrain in southeastern Louisiana, about 35 miles north of New Orleans and just over 70 miles east of Baton Rouge, Mandeville typically sees mild to moderately warm weather in October, which has brought record temperatures here as low as 28°F (in 1957) and as high as 96°F (in 1963).

On race day (Oct. 13), the average low is 60ºF and the average high is 81ºF.

Past Results

• 2023 Results
• 2022 Results
• 2021 Northshore Half Marathon Results
• 2019 Northshore Half Marathon Results
• 2018 Gulf Coast Half Marathon Results
• 2017 Gulf Coast Half Marathon Results
• 2016 Gulf Coast Half Marathon Results
• 2015 Gulf Coast Half Marathon Results
• 2014 Gulf Coast Half Marathon Results
• 2013 Gulf Coast Half Marathon Results
• 2012 Gulf Coast Half Marathon Results
• 2011 Gulf Coast Half Marathon Results

Course Map

See the race route map for the Northshore Half Marathon here.

Starting Time

7:00 AM

Fees

$55 – $85 for the half marathon or 10-miler

Registration

To reserve your spot in the 2024 running of the Northshore Half Marathon or 10-mile race, register online at the official race website below.

Official Race Website

northshorehalfmarathon.com

Comments

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See more races in: October, Louisiana