The Jim Thorpe Area Running Festival presented by Lehigh Valley Health Network

The 2026 Jim Thorpe Area Running Festival will Take Place on April 25 & 26! The 7-Miler will now take place on Saturday and has ITS OWN SCENIC TRAIN RIDE! Join us in this gorgeous mountain town for one of the most beautiful runs in the Northeast! The full marathon is a point-to-point BOSTON QUALIFIER with a steady 0.5-1% downgrade nearly the entire way!! It is one of the fastest Boston Qualifiers on the East Coast! Saturday: Half Marathon @ 8 am Saturday: 7-miler (train leaves @ 7:30 am) Sunday: Full Marathon with two starting times @ 7:15 am & 8:00 am. (train leaves @6:30 am and riders start at 8:00 am) Half Marathon (Sat. 4/25) 8 am: The 2025 half marathon will be run on the same gorgeous, out-and-back course as 2024. Participants will start in the parking lot at the Jim Thorpe Train Station and run the FLAT, FAST rail-trail into Lehigh Gorge State Park. The route runs parallel to and even crosses over the Lehigh River and into breathtaking scenery of Lehigh Gorge. 7-Miler With Scenic Train Rides to the Start (Sat. 4/25): (train leaves at 7:30 am) The final 7-miles of our gorgeous marathon course! All 7-Mile runners must take the train that leaves Jim Thorpe Station at 7:30 am. Boston Qualifying Full Marathon (two start corrals: 7:15 am and 8 am): (Sun. 4/26) The full marathon is an ABSOLUTE DREAM for runners a spectators alike, a POINT-TO-POINT BOSTON QUALIFIER with a SLIGHT, STEADY 0.5% to 1% DOWNGRADE nearly the ENTIRE WAY. The 700-foot net-downhill means that it does NOT incur a BQ time penalty. 7:15 am runners can get dropped off or park near the start and take a free shuttle bus back to their cars after the race. 8 am runners can take the scenic train from Jim Thorpe to White Haven (train leaves at 6:30 am). **RUNNERS WHO SIGN UP FOR THE 7:15 AM start may begin the race any time between 7:15 and 8:00 AM. Parking shuttles will run from the park-and-ride to the starting line until 7:45 AM. We allow this because the train ride to the 8:0