Baltimore Running Festival Half Marathon

Saturday, October 19, 2024 • Baltimore, MD • Course Map

With a route that takes runners past some of this harbor city’s most well-known tourist attractions, civic buildings, urban parks and cultural centers, the Baltimore Running Festival is set to mark its 23rd annual running in the fall of 2024 with a slate of race events that includes a full marathon, half marathon, 5K, marathon team relay and fun run for kids age 12 and under.

One of the D.C. and Baltimore area’s most popular road races, the Baltimore Running Festival saw more than 16,000 runners, walkers and wheelchair competitors cross the finish line in all races combined last year.

Just over 8,000 finishers ran the event’s half marathon, on a course that starts and finishes the near the city’s now-legendary Oriole Park at Camden Yards, the home field for Major League Baseball’s Baltimore Orioles.

From the starting line for the 13.1-mile half marathon near the corner of Conway and Light Streets, runners follow what is roughly a counter-clockwise out-and-back loop course through the city, which takes them first from the waterfront along Baltimore’s Inner Harbor area through downtown neighborhoods toward Patterson Park.

The park is one of the city’s oldest public parks, and its history dates back to the Civil War, when it was used as a place to house troops, as a hospital for treating wounded soldiers, and even as a military lookout post.

Once runners make their way around the southern and eastern edges of the park, the half marathon then starts a long, steady uphill climb between mile markers 3 and 7, along a stretch that takes runners northward along Washington Street, through more downtown neighborhoods as well as past Clifton Park, all the way up to the park road that rings Lake Montebello, one of the city’s most popular routes for runners, joggers and walkers.

The park road around the lake keeps runners on mostly even terrain before sending them back out onto the slightly hillier East 33rd Street, which takes the field past Venable Park, where Memorial Stadium — once known as “the world’s largest outdoor insane asylum” — once served as the home field for both the Orioles baseball team and the NFL’s now-defunct Baltimore Colts.

After the pass by Venable Park, runners then keep heading west along 33rd toward the campus of Johns Hopkins University, and then turn south on Guilford Avenue to start the final three miles of the race, which follows a mostly downhill descent back to Camden Yards for the race finish.

The starting line of the Baltimore Running Festival Three runners on the course of the Baltimore Running Festival. Two finishers with their medals from the Baltimore Running Festival. First female finisher at the Baltimore Running Festival. Starting line of the Baltimore Running Festival Half Marathon.

All photos courtesy of Corrigan Sports Enterprises

Awards & Accolades

We ranked the Baltimore Running Festival as one of the races with the best swag in 2023.

Race Weather & Climate

Nestled along the Patapsco River portion of the Chesapeake Bay in central Maryland, roughly an hour’s drive northeast of Washington, D.C., Baltimore typically experiences some of its mildest temperatures of the year during the month the race is held.

On race day (Oct. 19), the average low is 44ºF and the average high is 66ºF.

Past Results

Course Map

See the race route map for the Baltimore Running Festival Half Marathon here.

Starting Time

  • 7:30 AM – 5K
  • 8:00 AM – 10K, full marathon
  • 9:45 AM – half marathon

Course Time Limit

5 hours

Fees

  • $110 – $130 for the half marathon
  • $120 – $140 for the full marathon
  • $65 – $75 for the 10K
  • $50 – $60 for the 5K
  • $45 – $60 for the virtual race

Registration

To reserve your spot in the 2024 running of the Baltimore Running Festival Marathon, Half Marathon, 5K & Relay race, register online at RunSignUp.com here.

Official Race Website

www.thebaltimoremarathon.com

Comments

Ever run in the Baltimore Running Festival Half Marathon? Share your impressions here, or post your review in the Comments below.

See more races in: October, Maryland

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