The Anchorage Mayor’s Half Marathon is a point-to-point run held on the summer solstice weekend, and it’s net downhill. The course starts inside the ConocoPhillips Soccer Stadium at Kincaid Park on the western edge of Anchorage, where runners head east out of the park on the main road before turning back west at about mile 1.5 onto the paved multi-use trail toward the Kincaid Chalet.
From the chalet the route drops, following the same descent as the full marathon through a cottonwood forest down to the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail. The trail runs along Cook Inlet with views across the water to the Alaska Range, and beluga whales are occasionally visible from this stretch. At about mile 12.5 the course turns north onto N Street and climbs up off the trail into Anchorage’s oldest neighborhood, finishing at the west end of the Delaney Park Strip between 9th and 10th Avenues.
The half starts at 8:30 AM with no early start option, and all runners must begin within ten minutes of the gun. The course closes at 3:00 PM. Note that Raspberry Road, the only road into Kincaid Park, is reduced to one lane around the start, so spectators and drop-offs should plan extra time. The marathon course at this event is USATF certified as a Boston qualifier; the half is not.
