Western Mass Mother’s Day Half Marathon
May 11, 2025
Whately
Road
100-500
Fast & Flat
Small Town
High: 69°
/ Low: 44°
Overview
An out-and-back loop course that takes runners along the rolling country roads here in this small Western Massachusetts town just north of Springfield awaits at the Western Mass Mother’s Day Half Marathon, which makes its 14th annual running here along the banks of the Connecticut River on the morning of Mother’s Day.
Planned as a benefit for the Cancer Connection, a Northampton, Mass.-based nonprofit organization that provides support and programs for both adults and children coping with cancer, the race starts and finishes near the police and fire station on Christian Lane here in Whately, a small Pioneer Valley town of less than 2,000 residents whose history dates all the way back to the 1670s.
Course Description
From the starting line area, runners follow a counter-clockwise loop along Christian Road, Chestnut Plain Road and Depot Road before turning onto Cronin Hill Road, King Street and Main Street, as the course brings runners south from Whately into the nearby small town of North Hatley.
After the nearly four-and-a-half-mile stretch along Main Street — which becomes River Road as it nears the banks of the Connecticut River — runners then turn left onto Christian Lane, and head back in to the finish line at the police and fire station.
Most of the course is fast and flat, organizers say, the first two miles feature the hilliest stretch of the course as runners make their way along Christian Lane and Chestnut Plain Road. After about the mile 3 marker, the course then flattens out and remains largely flat for the remainder of the 13.1-mile route, which is also a USATF-sanctioned course.
The course time limit is 4 hours, organizers note.
