Friday, September 18, 2020 – Monday, September 28, 2020 • Saratoga Springs, NY • Course Map
Note: The 2020 race is a virtual event. Registration details are included below.
Set for its annual running as the late summer season is giving way to early fall here in eastern New York State, the Saratoga Palio Half Marathon & 5K Run/Walk is officially titled the Saratoga Palio Melanie Merola O’Donnell Memorial Race.
The race is run in Ms. O’Donnell’s honor to recognize a local resident who gave her life to helping others, most notably in both volunteer and staff roles with the National Organization for Victim Assistance and the Capital Area Crisis Response Team in Washington, D.C., with which she played a instrumental role in helping victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Today, the race serves as a way both to highlight her memory and further the causes she cared about, particular mental health, and the organization that sponsors the race also has created a scholarship in her memory through the Melanie Foundation, for outstanding postgraduate students in the field of mental health.
The race takes runners on a tour of downtown Saratoga Springs as well as the campus of the city’s Skidmore College and the tree-lined park roads of Saratoga Spa State Park, a National Historic Landmark park that marked its centennial anniversary in 2010 and features resorts, tennis facilities, a golf course, and ample meeting spaces and facilities.
Runners start the 13.1-mile half marathon race in downtown Saratoga Springs along Broadway Avenue near the city’s Congress Park, and from there they head south down along Broadway toward Saratoga Spa park, where they spend roughly the next five miles of the race running through the park’s roads and trails.
Most of the terrain through this section is very flat and fast, with only a few rolling hills between miles two and four along the park’s loop roads.
The course exits the park as runners head along Gideon Putnam Road and cross Broadway Avenue and head onto Crescent Avenue, which they follow for another mile or so before turning left onto Nelson Avenue. After the turn, the race route heads north along Nelson all the way back into downtown.
Then they head back onto Broadway for the race finish, right where they started back near Congress Park.
Race Weather & Climate
Located in eastern New York State, just over 30 miles north of Albany and roughly 180 miles north of New York City, the city of Saratoga Springs typically sees mild to moderately warm weather in the late summer and early fall, and relatively even precipitation year-round.
On race day (Sept. 20), the average low is 49ºF and the average high is 72ºF.
Past Results
- 2019 Saratoga Palio Half Marathon Results
- 2018 Saratoga Palio Half Marathon Results
- 2017 Saratoga Palio Half Marathon Results
- 2016 Saratoga Palio Half Marathon Results
- 2015 Saratoga Palio Half Marathon Results
- 2014 Saratoga Palio Half Marathon Results
- 2013 Saratoga Palio Half Marathon Results
- 2012 Saratoga Palio Half Marathon Results
- 2011 Saratoga Palio Half Marathon Results
Course Map
See the race route map for the Saratoga Palio Race Half Marathon here.
Starting Time
your choice
Fees
- $60 – $75 for the half marathon
- $25 – $35 for the 5K
Registration
To reserve your spot in the 2020 running of the Saratoga Palio Race Half Marathon & 5K Run/Walk, register online at ZippyReg.com here.
Official Race Website
Facebook Conversations
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