New Hampshire Marathon Half Marathon & 10K

The race takes runners along the roads that lead out from and back into Bristol around the shoreline of Newfound Lake, the 4,106-acre lake that has helped make this small town a popular spot for summertime outdoors recreation, for swimming, boating and fishing on the lake to hiking and camping in the hills and mountains that surround its 22 miles of shoreline — the town’s population typically doubles in the summer, city officials say, from its usual 3,300 residents to more than 6,500 in the peak vacation months. That helps explain why the lake serves as the route for the race, both for its natural beauty and the ease with which it helps divide up the marathon route for the race. Runners in the half marathon will actually start their race at the half-way point of the full marathon — they’ll be transported by shuttle bus from the marathon start back in Bristol to the half-way point for their starting line — and then follow the second half of the full marathon route back into town for the race finish line. Along the way — which runners will follow largely along Groton Road, West Shore Road and Lake Street to the finish line near Kelley Park along North Main street — the course offers up much of the scenery you’d expect to see in a small, rural New Hampshire town. Plenty of reds, oranges and yellows are out on the trees that populate the hills and mountains surrounding Newfound Lake, and runners stay close to the lake for much of the race. (For a detailed report on one runner’s experience in the full marathon at the 2010 race, check out this YouTube video review.)