Note: A virtual option is available for this event. Registration details are included below.
A few thousand runners and walkers trek along the coastal trails of Anchorage along the Cook Inlet each summer at the Mayor’s Midnight Sun Marathon, Half Marathon & 5K, which is timed to coincide with the summer solstice, when the longest day of the year brings a full day of sunlight over this subarctic region.
Framed by the spectacular mountains all around the city and the forested trails along the course, the race offers breathtaking views of the nearby Alaska wilderness as it takes runners through local landmarks like Earthquake Park, Point Woronzof, and the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail.
Both the half and the full marathons share the same finishing line but have different starting points — the full marathon begins at Anchorage’s Bartlett High School, while those running the half start their race at the Delaney Park Strip, just off West 9th Avenue.
From the half marathon starting point, participants follow Stolt Lane and then Bootlegger Park Drive through some of the city’s residential areas and then pass by Westchester Lagoon, which transitions the course from neighborhood areas to the forests of Earthquake Park as it makes its way west.
Run on paved surfaces through the early miles, the race course stays mostly flat through mile markers one through three and then becomes hillier as runners make their way around the western edge of the park onto Point Woronzof Road, as miles three through five bring some of the biggest hills of the race, climbing from roughly sea level around mile 1 to around 175 feet by the time runners reach mile 6.
Runners make the turn around Point Woronzof and head south along the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail, which includes the hilliest stretch of the race, all the way south to the turnaround point at about the 6.5 mile point in the race.
After making the turnaround, runners then head back northward along the trail, downhill along the stretch they just ran, following the coastal trail for a roughly six-mile stretch back through Earthquake Park along the shoreline.
The second hilly stretch of the race occurs as runners are making their way around the point between mile markers 8 and 10, and then the course begins to flatten out again for the last few miles of the race.
Course Map
See the race route map for the Mayor’s Midnight Sun Half Marathon here.
