John & Jessie Kelley Half Marathon

Runners start the race at Ocean Beach Park, a 1/2-mile-long beach made of “sugar sand” that’s been featured in the likes of National Geographic as one of the world’s best beaches. Here’s how the local tourist bureau describes it: Ocean Beach Park faces the Long Island Sound where it meets the Atlantic Ocean, and boasts a half-mile of soft, “sugar-sand” shores, giving beachgoers plenty of room to spread out, and plenty of opportunity to build that perfect sandcastle. A truly family friendly destination, the beach is lined by a wide-plank boardwalk where shade-seekers can find covered benches, as well as binoculars offering coveted views of New London Ledge Light and even across to Montauk on a clear day. From there, you’ll follow roughly a clockwise loop route around New London and nearby Waterford, with stretches along Great Neck Road (and through Harkness Memorial State Park), North Shore Road and Rope Ferry Road. While it’s run entirely on paved roads, those roads take you through a combination of parkland areas, rural roads and more populated areas, especially the final few miles of the race that run past the New London Harbor Lighthouse. Expect the terrain to be mostly flat with a few rolling hills, organizers say; the biggest hill occurs around mile 8, with a “long hill” there, they say.