The trails and park roads that wind through Youngstown’s Mill Creek Park await runners at the annual Mill Creek Distance Classic Half Marathon & 5-mile race, which celebrates its 31st annual running this year and usually sees about 400 to 500 runners cross the finish line each year in both distances combined.
The first local road race event on the calendar each year for the Youngstown Road Runners Club, which organizes the event, the race is a hilly and challenging one with few flat stretches to speak of through the city’s Mill Creek Park, which was established in 1891 and is the oldest city-owned park in the state.
The out-and-back course starts at the park’s northern end, near the pavilion in the part of the park known as the Wick Recreation Area.
From there, the 13.1-mile route follows a winding course through the park, curving around Bears Den Drive, West Drive, and West Cohasset Drive, as runners follow a long stretch along the northern shore of Lake Cohasset, which fills up the center of the northern section of the park.
Participants run west and south along the shoreline of the lake, following High Drive and then Chestnut Hill Drive along the waterway that gives the park its name, Mill Creek.
Runners reach the turnaround point at the intersection of Chestnut Hill and Highway 62, where they cross the bridge over the creek and then run north along East Cohasset Drive, following it along a long, winding path that skirts the residential developments near the park.
The last few miles of the race take the field along the upper section of Mill Creek that empties into the lake, curving around on West Drive and then back onto Bears Den Drive for the last couple of miles to the finish.
Along the way, runners are treated to plenty of parkland scenery, from waterfalls and cascading waterways to the park’s lake and creek sections, as well as the grist mill.
In addition to following a winding course through the park, the race also features plenty of hilly trails for participants, ranging from a high of about 1,038 feet above sea level to a low of 868 feet above sea level.
Virtually every mile along the course features some kind of hill, with the most significant uphills and downhills occurring at the beginning and the end of the race (thanks to the out-and-back nature of the course) and just after the halfway point in the race.
