Breck Crest Mountain Marathon Half Marathon & 10k

With its combination of road stretches through Colorado’s Breckenridge Village and much longer stretches along the wooded, mountainous trails just outside the town center, the Breck Crest Mountain Marathon, Half Marathon & 10K welcomes a few hundred runners each year for its three race events. All three races feature a combination of road running and trail running, but the trail race portion of the event is the star, and the reason many of the runners come out for the race, to see the beauty of this part of the Colorado Rockies. All three races follow out-and-back courses that start and finish at Breckenridge’s Riverwalk Center, which lies just off Main Street and overlooks the Blue River that cuts through the center of the town. From there, the half marathon takes runners through the Breckenridge village along paved paths until they reach the Burro Trail on the edge of town. Once on the trail, runners follow the course as it winds through the forest, crossing a number of streams, wooden bridges and single-track dirt trails through the woods as well as stretches through wide-open grassy fields. The course even takes the field through parts of the area’s ski resorts, as runners follow along a stretch of the path known as the Skiway Skyway during the second half of the race. After running through the skyway as well as through a tunnel, runners follow the trail as it winds back downward through the forest, and back to the Riverwalk Center for the finish. Runners who are considering taking part in this race need to be ready for both challenging uphills and downhills as well as some (very) high-altitude trail running. From the starting elevation of about 9,500 feet above sea level, runners will climb all throughout the first half of the race, rising in elevation throughout the first six-and-a-half miles until they reach the peak elevation of the race, which lies at more than 12,000 feet above sea level.