Sunday, June 10, 2018 • Sheffield, OH • Course Map
Join the roughly 300 runners who come out each year to run this “park to park” race just a few miles from the shores of nearby Lake Erie at Sheffield’s Park 2 Park Half Marathon & 5K, which takes the field along a combination crushed limestone and paved surface trail between two of Lorain County’s metro parks — French Creek Reservation and Black Creek Reservation Parks.
Run mostly through tree-lined portions of the trails inside the parks, with a few stretches along open road, the trail offers ample natural beauty of the forests inside the park combined with mildly challenging terrain.
The out-and-back race starts and finishes at French Creek, a 450-acre park just north of Sheffield with a largely forested landscape and plenty of high cliffs and steep ravines along the park’s four main hiking and walking trails.
Runners in the half marathon start their race by following a brief loop around a stretch of the park’s Big Woods Trail before exiting the park onto French Creek Road, which they follow going west to East River Road and then East 31st Street.
After a brief stretch along East 31st, runners then turn off the main road and onto the trail within Black River Reservation Metro Park, hitting the 3.5-mile Bridgeway Trail that runs along the length of the winding Black River, from which the park gets its name and which follows a curling course through the park.
The Bridgeway takes runners across bridges over streams and creeks, past open green space meadows and through thickets of trees and vegetation, which make for a refreshing break from the nearby urban areas.
Once they hit the southern tip of the park near where the trail meets Interstate 90, runners hit the turnaround point and begin heading back northward along the same trail they’ve just run, skirting the Black River on their way back to the starting line at French Creek.
Scheduled starting time for the race is 7:00 AM; race-day registration starts at 6:00 AM at French Creek Park’s Pine Tree picnic area.
Race Weather & Climate
Late springtime weather conditions tend to be moderately warm (and sometimes hot) to mild in the Sheffield Lake area, which lies just a few miles from the village of Sheffield near the shores of Lake Erie.
On race day (June 10), the average low is 56ºF and the average high is 78ºF.
Course Map
See the race route map for the Park 2 Park Half Marathon here.
Starting Time
7:00 AM
Fees
- $65 for the half marathon, for pre-registered runners
- $75 on the day of the race
Registration
To reserve your spot in the 2018 running of Sheffield’s Park 2 Park Half Marathon or 5K race, register online at Eventbrite.com here.
Official Race Website
Facebook Conversations
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