Harborside Half Marathon & 5k

The trail, which stretches just over a mile between a commuter rail station and the Merrimack River downtown, will make up the final mile of the race as you’re running in to the finish line at Michael’s Harborside, overlooking the river.
Long before you reach there, however, you’ll follow the course as it winds its way southward through farm lands and wildlife areas, past the Great Meadow and over the river a couple of times.
While there are plentiful gentle rolling hills, the course elevation ranges from just a few feet above sea level to about 74 feet, so there’s very little elevation change to speak of — “this is a relatively easy course,” the organizers say on their website. “There are no major hills and most hills are simply rollers that come and go quite easily.”
Some of the prettiest spots include the stretches around the Artichoke River Reservoir and the final, 1.3-mile stretch along the Clipper City Rail Trail, which unfolds through a combination of lush forests and Newburyport’s downtown, all the way to the finish at the river.