Sunday, September 11, 2016 • Freeport, ME • Course Map
Just shy of 200 runners crossed the finish line last year at Maine’s Freeport Half Marathon and 5K race, which features a combination of in-town roads and rural, country roads here just outside the home of world-famous catalog giant L.L. Bean.
Also home to the 200-acre Wolfe’s Neck Woods State Park and the Desert of Maine, where exposed glacial silt lies like sand in a park surrounded by forest (and even features a “Sand Museum”) — this town of just over 7,800 traces its history all the way back to about 1700, and features historic homes along the same downtown streets as its plentiful outlet shops.
Runners start the race — which is now part of the New England Half Marathon Tour, a series of more than a dozen 13.1-milers across Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont in the fall, winter and spring — near downtown at the intersection of Park Street and Bow Street.
From there, runners head out on a counter-clockwise loop along Flying Point Road, Highland Road and Pleasant Hill Road, before turning back onto Bow Street, Cove Road and South Street for the home stretch into the race finish line on Depot Street.
Much of the race is run through rural areas, with a few miles in the first half near the coastline along Maquoit Bay.
The hilliest stretches occur in the first couple of miles, along Bow Street and Flying Point Road (just as runners are passing by the Mast Landing Audubon Sanctuary, a 140-acre wildlife sanctuary on an estuary along the Harraseeket River, where visitors can wander along its 3 miles of trails through tidal marshes, orchid gardens and forests).
There are also some hilly stretches early in the second half, as the course reaches its highest point just after runners make the turn onto Pleasant Hill Road.
Twenty percent of race proceeds go to help a pair of locally based nonprofits — the Freeport Education Foundation and Freeport Community Services, and the Freeport High School cross country and track teams.
Race Weather & Climate
Nestled along the Haraseeket River in southern coastal Maine, about 16 miles northeast of Portland and roughly 40 miles southwest of the capital city Augusta, Freeport typically sees mild to moderately warm weather in September, which has brought record temperatures here as low as 28°F (in 1965) and as high as 95°F (in 1973).
On race day (Sept. 11), the average low is 50ºF and the average high is 72ºF.
Past Results
- 2015 Freeport Half Marathon Results
- 2014 Freeport Half Marathon Results
- 2013 Freeport Half Marathon Results
Course Map
See the race route map for the Freeport Half Marathon here.
Starting Time
- 9:00 AM – half marathon
- 9:15 AM – 5K
Fees
See race website
Registration
To reserve your spot in the 2016 running of the Freeport Half Marathon or 5K race, register online at the event website here.
Official Race Website
Facebook Conversations
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