Our Course
How hard is our course? Well to start, it's 42.2km, so pretty darn hard! If you really want to know exactly what to expect along our picturesque course, here are the details:
Full Marathon - 42.2km
The marathon course starts on 55th street, just east of 42 Avenue. It stays on a residential road for 2.4 km and then enters the picturesque paved park trail system at Mackenzie Trails. The marathon then leads to the trail system for the rest of the course, following the Red Deer River, which you will cross four times! Leaving Mackenzie Trails there is one short steep hill out to Heritage Ranch and returns along the north side of the river by Bower Ponds. The second big loop is NE, and around the River Bend Golf Course. The return home is back to the Railway Bridge, and then a short climb up a steep hill at Michener Hill (Red Deer’s own heartbreak hill!). The course races downhill to 55th street and turns right on 42 A Avenue to the finish Line!
Route map for Red Deer Marathon 2021 by Niels Nijstad on plotaroute.com
Half Marathon - 21.1km
The half marathon course is the same as the full marathon for approximately 19 kms. Near the start there is a short loop through Mackenzie Trails and then the big SW loop to Heritage Ranch (11km). On the way there is a short steep hill at 8.5 km. The course crosses the river at 14km, passes through Bower Ponds and returns to the south shore over the railway bridge (17.5km). There is a short steep grunt part way up Michener Hill, then back onto 55th street and downhill turning right on 42 A Avenue to the finish.
Route map for Red Deer Half 2021 by Niels Nijstad on plotaroute.com
10km
Runners will start on 55th Street heading east to turn right on 45th Avenue. They will follow this road 300m and make a left on Waskasoo Crescent entering the trail system along the Red Deer River at the Bob Johnstone Memorial where they will go down over the Waskasoo Bridge. Runners will then proceed to the Taylor Drive Bridge at the 3K mark and cross the river. As runners go down off the bridge they will take a sharp right and head along the Bower Ponds trail, crossing over the small wooden bridge and proceed in a loop back below Taylor Bridge. They will then follow the river trail system passing by the BMX track and Lions Campground to head up 67th Street Bridge and re-cross the river. The final push will take them down the trail off the bridge, taking a hard left through Kerry Wood Nature Centre towards Michener Hill (actually Ash Hill) and down 55th Street to the finish line!