Over 1,000 runners are expected this weekend for the first Amherst Half Marathon.
Sunday’s 13.1-mile road race is being organized by the Hartford Marathon Foundation. The group is also holding a 5-kilometer road race on Saturday.
“Our whole theme is ‘great races in great places,’” said Beth Shluger, founder of the Hartford Marathon Foundation. “We try to seek out what we think are the great places we want to show off in our region.”
While Amherst hosts numerous 5Ks and annually showcases the Nancy Conz 10 Miler in February, this is the town’s first half marathon.
“We think Amherst is a beautiful, beautiful community,” Shluger said. “Lots of runners. We’re thrilled to be coming and working with the town. We’re getting great support.”
The HMF plans about 30 various events during the year, mostly in Connecticut. The organization held one race in Rhode Island and another in Springfield.
The group had internal discussions in 2015 about a longer race during the fall in the Pioneer Valley. Since the fall of 2016, the HMF has met with officials from the town, Amherst Police and Fire departments, UMass, Amherst College, Amherst Regional Public Schools, Chamber of Commerce, the Business Improvement District and the state of Massachusetts to plan.
“It is a lot of work to create a new race,” Shluger said. “You’re forming new relationships and you’re building trust. We don’t enter anything as a one-year thing. Nothing to us is a one-and-done. The Hartford Marathon is 25 years old in 2018. We have races that are 20 years old, 18 years old, 15 years old. We don’t enter anything as a one-and-done. We are there for the long haul.”
The weekend begins Saturday with a small expo for runners, held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Amherst College Alumni House. The 5K race starts at 11 a.m. at Amherst College. The course is mostly on Amherst College grounds, but runners will use a portion of the Norwottuck Rail Trail. An HMF FitKids Run will be held at 12:30 p.m.
The half marathon and relay will start at 8 a.m. Sunday at UMass.
“It’s been interesting to go right from the fire of the Hartford Marathon (Oct. 14) into a new event,” Shluger said. “It’s going smoothly.”
Josh Miller has been the technical director at the HMF since 2010 and has planned around 300 events. Miller enlisted the help of local runners to help plot the course.
“The two bigger things we thought we had to do … the center of town needed to be seen. Going past Amherst College by the businesses on South Pleasant Street, North Pleasant Street had to be seen. That’s why we designed the route to run through there early in the race to be able to see the center of town first. And then, for me too, just getting on the rail trail was another big thing that we wanted to showcase as much as we could.”
The half marathon will start and end near Haigis Mall at UMass. The first two miles will lead runners from Massachusetts Ave, south on North Pleasant Street and South Pleasant. From West Street, runners will turn left on Shays Street and continue through South Amherst Common (Mile 4) onto Station Road. From here runners will head toward to the Norwottuck Rail Trail (Mile 5).
Runners will exit the trail at Mile 6 and turn right on South East Street, heading north onto North East Street for Miles 7-9.
From North East Street the course turns left onto Henry Street (Mile 10), left onto Pine Street and left on East Pleasant Street (mile 11).
The final two miles runs from Eastman Lane to North Pleasant Street and back to Haigis Mall for the finish.
There will be eight water/Gatorade stations along the course, as well as a GU Energy Gel station at Mile 7.4.
There will be entertainment and bathrooms at the start/finish and along the course.
About 225 volunteers will man the stations and help at the start/finish.
The first 1½ miles will be closed to traffic for about 30 minutes.
“Once we got a race route approved we looked at what streets needed to be closed and what could remain open for residents,” Miller said. “For this race, we are closing the first mile and a half of the race route, which was approved by the Select Board, and much of the remaining race route will be open to local traffic throughout the race.”
The HMF is expecting about 300 runners for the 5K and 800 for the half marathon.
“We’re pleased with that,” Shluger said. “We certainly don’t want to take away from any other races that are going on. … On any given weekend there are lots of races. Someone may run their first 5K with us or their first half marathon and go, ‘wow, I like this. What else is out there.’ And they’ll go try another local race.”
Charity is an important part of the HMF and the group will be donating $4,000 to the Amherst Survival Center, Shluger said.
The group’s can drive will also deliver nonperishable items donated by runners to the Survival Center.
Last year, the HMF collected 14,000 pounds of food for its charities.
“That’s a really good fit for the Survival Center with their food pantry,” Shluger said. “Not only are we giving them some money, which is wonderful, but we’ll be collecting nonperishable food items for them.
“Our mission is to just give people incentive to get out there and get fit or stay fit,” she added. “The further we can spread our net the better it is for everyone, the health of the community, then hopefully economic impact and raise some dollars for charity.”