Expand<\/a><\/p>\nA new course awaits the field for the 13th annual Scranton Half-Marathon on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Part of the reason for the new course is due to the replacement project of the Elm Street bridge that connects South Scranton and West Scranton. But race organizer Matt Byrne said the change is also due to some feedback from runners about that area of the Lackawanna River Heritage Trail.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve mentioned about trying a year without that out-and-back section of the trail,\u201d Byrne said. \u201cIt\u2019s a little tight, a little boring. They love the crowd, our spectators bring such energy on the streets that it gets a bit quiet back there and they want to keep that energy going. So it was a little bit of both. Yes, the bridge being out allowed us to request to the city and the police department if we could block off three more miles and they were nice enough to do that for us. So we\u2019re grateful and looking forward to this new course.\u201d<\/p>\n
The first change to the course is immediate. Instead of beginning on Providence Road outside Scranton Veterans Memorial Stadium, the starting line was moved to in front of Scranton High School on Mike Munchak Way. Runners will then turn left onto Providence Road, merge onto North Main Avenue, turn right onto Green Ridge Street, then turn left onto Sanderson Avenue.<\/p>\n
This is where the next change comes in. Rather than doubling back to Sanderson Avenue after running through the Plot Section of Green Ridge, the runners will head to Parker Street and turn onto the Lackawanna River Heritage Trail in the Marvine section of the city, then head back to Green Ridge via Boulevard Avenue.<\/p>\n
Byrne said it was a no-brainer to add that part of the trail to the course. That gave them about two miles, so they still needed to get an additional mile to reach the 13.1-mile distance. The easiest place to do that was the Providence \/ Green Ridge section.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know our boundaries and where the officials don\u2019t want us to go,\u201d Byrne said. \u201cStay away from the hospitals in case of emergencies. Do the best to try not to disrupt any church services. So once we got that trail on there, it became pretty obvious where to get one more mile.\u201d<\/p>\n
After making its way on Electric Street, Sunset Street, Delaware Street, Capouse Avenue, Ash Street, Wyoming Avenue and Marion Street, the course hits North Washington Avenue and has been as in years past. Runners will hit Adams Avenue, turn right onto Biden Street, left onto Franklin Avenue, left onto Lackawanna Avenue, right onto Cedar Avenue and right onto Elm Street.<\/p>\n
Here is the final change to the course. Instead of heading straight on Elm Street and turning onto the Lackawanna River Heritage Trail, runners will turn right onto South Washington Avenue, turn left onto Hickory Street, then access the Heritage Trail by the University of Scranton athletic fields.<\/p>\n
From there, the course finishes as it has in the past. Runners will exit the trail on Olive Street and head into Scranton Veterans Memorial Stadium where the finish line is set up on the track.<\/p>\n
Approximately 65 feet of elevation has been added to the new course. Byrne said most of that is in the first five or six miles and necessarily isn\u2019t a bad thing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it flows really well as a quick course,\u201d Byrne said. \u201cI think you\u2019re going to see some really fast times. I think it\u2019s good to change it up a bit. Utilize different muscles as you go. I think it\u2019s more spectator friendly as well and it showcases our city a little more too. Show some more turns, show some more neighborhoods, show a new section of the trail, which is gorgeous.\u201d<\/p>\n
Residents and motorists are advised that some roads may be closed or traffic stopped for an extended period to allow runners to pass. There is a cutoff time for runners and walkers to reach the intersection of North Washington Ave. and Olive Street (8.3 miles) by 10:30 a.m. so that the city streets can safely reopen. Participants who don\u2019t reach the cutoff time will be directed to turn right onto Olive Street and head back to Memorial Stadium. They will not be able to complete the full course and not have a finish time recorded.<\/p>\n
More than 2,800 runners in all categories are entered from 26 states as well as Kenya, Germany, Puerto Rico, Ireland and Costa Rica. Fifty-six percent of the runners are female, 44 percent male. There are 666 first-time participants between the run and the walk.<\/p>\n
Things get started Saturday at 3 p.m. with the 5K race, which has been renamed the Jim Moran Memorial 5K. Moran was active in the area\u2019s running community and one of the co-founders of the Steamtown Marathon. He died Dec. 8 at the age of 76.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was our finish line director, so we\u2019ve renamed the 5K after Jimmy,\u201d Byrne said. \u201cMaybe he\u2019s looking down and notices it and kind of appreciates it. His name will be on the finishers\u2019 glass we give out to all the 5K finishers. It\u2019s something simple and subtle but extra special meaning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those who finish the 5K and the Half-Marathon will complete the Dougherty Double. About 160 runners have signed up to do both.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, the Half-Marathon walk begins at 6:45 a.m. and the run gets the starter\u2019s gun at 8 a.m.<\/p>\n
Among the elite runners entered are last year\u2019s runnerup Ciaran Fisher from Marion Heights as well as third-place finisher Brandon Fleschut from Dallas and fifth-place finisher David Haines of Madison Twp. Two Kenyans \u2014 Rogers Rop and Felex Cheruiyot Rop \u2014 are entered. Others to watch include Durham, North Carolina\u2019s Josh Izewski, who won the Wyoming Valley 10-Miler in 2024; Nathan Couse from Camillus, New York; and Greg Jaindl of Dunmore.<\/p>\n
Three-time champion Rachel Schilkowsky from Providence, Rhode Island (2019, 2023, 2025), six-time winner Heidi Peoples of Clarks Summit and 2024 winner Trisha Byler of Honeoye Falls, New York, headline the women\u2019s field along with former Holy Cross and Rider University standout Mackenzie Greenfield and Alyssa Vassallo from Durham, North Carolina.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s going to be competitive and fast on both sides,\u201d Byrne said. \u201cThe weather looks very favoring toward quick times, too. I think the humidity is going to be low.\u201d<\/p>\n
Forecast calls for partly cloudy skies in the morning with a high of 61 degrees and 48 percent humidity.<\/p>\n
This also is Year Two of the four-year medal series for all Half-Marathon finishers that when put together displays the skyline of downtown Scranton with the city\u2019s iconic landmarks. Last year\u2019s medal featured the Scranton Times building and radio tower, Geisinger Hospital, Cooper\u2019s Seafood Restaurant and Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel. This year\u2019s medal depicts The Ritz Theatre.<\/p>\n
Scranton half marathon<\/p>\n
More than 2,800 people are entered in the Scranton Half Marathon on Saturday, which begins at 8 a.m. at Scranton High School. Entrants\u2019 ages range from 11 years old to 77 years old.\u00a0Scranton leads the way with 293 entrants, followed by Clarks Summit (139), Dunmore (65), Dallas (57), Pittston (53), Wilkes-Barre (51), Mountain Top (49), Moscow (44) and Archbald (41), to name a few of the local communities represented.<\/p>\n
For a complete list of entrants, go to thetimes-tribune.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rachel Schilowsky of Providence, R.I. crosses the finish lining earning 6th overall and 1st overall female during the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":162702,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[178,180,179,726],"class_list":["post-162701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162701\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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