Surftown Half Marathon and 5k

Breathtaking! Flat! Scenic! Did we mention gorgeous? We are thrilled to present our oceanfront half marathon course. We know you will love it as much as we do!The Surftown Half Marathon and new 5K are scenic tours on a relatively flat course along Block Island Sound and through the quintessential seaside towns of Watch Hill and Weekapaug, which are part of Westerly and just a few miles off Interstate 95. Westerly is also served by Amtrak (Boston-New York route).
This is a gorgeous time to come to this ocean side destination because the weather is still summery and lovely, but the beach traffic will be gone, there are 2,100 parking spots a Misquamicut State Beach. With Surftown you will enjoy small-town charm with a first class big time race, and it is directed by the Hartford Marathon Foundation, one of the best event management teams in the USA. It is everything a runner could hope for in a New England road race, and is wonderfully positioned on the calendar in mid September. And it is wonderfully positioned geographically to provide an absolutely gorgeous setting and easy access. The half marathon and new 5K run and walk provide options so everyone can get in on the exciting action on this personal record course. The races will be limited to 2,400 participants combined.
This is also a wonderful race for volunteers, who receive T-shirts and are included, of course, in the post race celebrations with clam chowder and beer.
Course Highlights
Running along the ocean front streets of Misquamicut Beach and Watch Hill, RI, the Surftown Half Marathon is a spectacular beach run featuring stunning ocean views! Fast, the 13.1 mile course is a great destination race! The race takes runners on an out-and-back 13.1-mile loop that starts in and finishes near Misquamicut State Beach, a half-mile-long beachfront area that’s one of the state’s more popular summertime beach resorts, just a few miles south of the town of Westerly. Runners will start the race at 7:30 AM on Atlantic Avenue, right outside the entrance to Misquamicut State Beach, and head first northeast along Atlantic in the direction of Weekapaug. Just after passing the mile 2 marker, runners will turn right off Atlantic and onto Wawaloam Drive, which will bring them along a stretch that looks out onto the rocky beaches of Weekapaug. This breezy, sunny stretch along the beachfront lasts for about a mile as Wawaloam becomes Spray Rock Road, and then runners follow the turn left onto Taylor Lane and then again onto Chapman Road to complete the loop through Weekapaug. The course re-joins Atlantic Avenue right after runners pass the mile 4 marker, and then head back in the direction of Misquamicut Beach. Runners next head southwest along the route they ran in the early going, heading down past the cottages and beach homes that line either side of Atlantic Avenue on their way through Misquamicut and past the Atlantic Beach Amusement Park, toward Maschaug and Little Maschaug ponds. Before reaching the ponds, however, the course turns right on Lawton Avenue and heads north, taking runners up to Shore Road, where they’ll turn left and head west again for about a mile along Shore Road before turning onto Watch Hill Road. The next stretch of the race unfolds for nearly two miles along Watch Hill Road in the direction of the village by the same name, which lies at the end of the island, just off Little Narragansett Bay. Runners loop through the neighborhoods and waterfront areas here, passing by Watch Hill Cove at the easternmost point of the course, on the way to turns on Westerly Road, Ninigret Avenue and Ocean View Highway. Once runners are on Ocean View, they’ll follow it for about the next mile and a half to the last couple of turns in the race, which are Bayberry Road and Maplewood Avenue, leading in to the finish line on Atlantic Avenue.