Bart Yasso, Chief Running Officer at Runner’s World Magazine designed the course and yes, a river runs through it; the Lehigh River to be exact.  As Bart likes to say; it’s a course designed by a runner for a runner.

This downhill course starts at Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown, PA. Maybe an odd location to start, but it’s easy to find and has plenty of parking. It’s a quick trip to the Lehigh Parkway, past the Fish Hatchery, across a covered bridge and heading towards the Lehigh River. At mile 7, you enter the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor. Mile 12 places you in Bethlehem, PA with a run through the 18th Century Industrial Quarter. Canal locks, a boat launch and several parks make up the run to Easton, PA. At mile 25, the confluence of the Lehigh and Delaware Rivers is right before you. Just 1 more mile places you at the finish line in Easton.

Scenic, shady and a net elevation drop of 240’ make it an attractive qualifying run for the Boston Marathon.  The average runner’s time last year was 3:57 hours.

Marathon cap is 2,500 runners.  We will post notification on our website and through our email list when cap limit is nearing.