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Snow-streaked peaks above a forested valley along the Seward Highway
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Mount Marathon Race course map and guide

Seward's Fourth of July race runs about 3.1 miles from downtown to Race Point and back, with nearly 3,000 feet of climbing.

July 4, 2027 Seward, Alaska

Mount Marathon has been an organized race since 1915, and the organizer calls it the oldest mountain race in North America. The 2027 race, on Sunday, July 4, is the 99th running. You start on 4th Avenue downtown, run about half a mile of road to the foot of the mountain, climb to the summit rock at Race Point and come straight back down to a finish a block south of the start. Juniors turn at the halfway mark.

There's no set trail. You can climb any line you like as long as you cross the timing mat around the summit rock, and most racers come down a different way, through the scree and the creek bed called the Gut. First-timers have to cover the whole course in training before they can pick up a bib, and the organizer wants every racer to know all the ways on and off the mountain, the Jeep Trail included. Take the map on those training runs. The summit can be windy, and the organizer warns that visibility up there can drop to next to nothing.

This is an unofficial guide: Goat Maps isn't affiliated with Mount Marathon Race. Check the official site before you enter or race.

Mount Marathon course map

Every course's checkpoints on the Goat Maps topo map. Each course has a map of its own further down.

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Mount Marathon courses

CourseDistanceClimbingStartTime limit
Men's and Women's Races3.1 mi (5 km)2 h 30 min
Junior Race1.7 mi (3 km)1 h 30 min

Mount Marathon Men's and Women's Races

The whole mountain: up to Race Point and back to 4th Avenue.

Distance
3.1 mi (5 km)
Time limit
2 h 30 min

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The men and women run the same course in separate races; in 2026 each went off in three waves, three minutes apart. From 4th and Adams you run one long block on 4th Avenue, turn up Jefferson Street and follow the road to the base. Most racers get onto the mountain by the cliff, the Roots or the Switchback Trail. Past the road, the climb gains about 2,675 feet in 0.9 miles, and the organizer puts the average slope at 34 degrees.

You have 60 minutes from your start to pass the Junior Race Point, halfway up, and 2 hours 30 minutes to finish. Going down, most people take the scree and then the Gut, and leave the mountain by the cliff, the Switchback Trail or the Jeep Trail. You can't come down the Roots, and the Waterfall is for experts only and can be closed. Back on the road, it's about two-thirds of a mile to the finish at 4th and Washington. The only aid is water at Race Point, and only if the weather lets a helicopter bring it, so carry what you need.

Boats in the Seward marina behind the breakwater, below a green mountain with snow near its top
Hari Nandakumar / Unsplash

Mount Marathon Junior Race

Halfway up and back, for ages 9 to 17.

Distance
1.7 mi (3 km)
Time limit
1 h 30 min

The course line isn't drawn yet, so the map only pins where the checkpoints are.

Take this course offline

Download its map in Goat Maps and you can find the next checkpoint without a signal.

Open in web map

Juniors take the same road and trail as the adults but round the marker at the Junior Race Point, halfway up, and head back down to the same finish. Boys and girls go off together in one mass start, at 9 a.m. in 2026. The organizer gives no distance for it; a July 2026 news report put it at roughly 1.7 miles.

Junior cutoffs come early: you have 8 minutes to reach the gate by the picnic tables on Lowell Canyon Road, 30 minutes to pass Squirrels' Inn and 1 hour 30 minutes to finish. The Beeline Trail, which skips Squirrels' Inn, is closed to juniors, and so is the Waterfall. A junior who misses a cutoff is walked down to the finish and handed back to a parent. Golden Racers, entrants 70 and over, run this halfway course inside the adult races, with 75 minutes to reach the Junior Race Point.

A dock and tour boats in the Seward harbor, with a green mountain rising behind
Eric Zhu / Unsplash

Getting a bib

Registration for 2027 runs March 1 to 31, on RunSignup. If you have priority status (past winners, the top half of each age group the year before, 10-year racers and a few others), you get an email invitation on March 1 and pay the entry fee, $100 for adults and $50 for juniors in 2026. Everyone else enters the lottery, which cost $20, or $15 for a junior, and pre-authorizes the rest of the fee, charged only if they win. Lottery results come out by April 15.

The men's and women's races take 375 entrants each, and the junior races 150 boys and 150 girls. In 2026 the lottery drew 155 of 475 women (32.6%) and 149 of 781 men (19.1%). Junior applicants from Seward and Moose Pass always get in. A few more spots go by petition, auction, raffle, sponsorship and earned invitation. There's no waitlist, and bibs can't be transferred or refunded, or deferred except for pregnancy.

Your first Mount Marathon

You need previous mountain running experience to race. Before you can collect a bib, you have to run the entire course, road sections included, and sign a statement saying you did. You also have to attend the first-timer safety meeting on July 3. In 2026 it was in the evening at the AVTEC Gymnasium on Fourth Avenue, and a first-timer who misses it is disqualified. Veterans are told to practice the whole course too, since the terrain changes every year.

The free safety tours veteran racers led in June 2026 covered only the bottom third of the mountain (the cliff and Roots routes, the Gut and some of the scree) and didn't count toward the requirement. Poles, metal cleats, Microspikes and headphones are banned. Spectators can hand you water or food, but not gear.

Getting to Seward and watching

Sailboats in the Seward harbor under low cloud, with snowy mountains across the water
Josh McCausland / Unsplash

Seward is about 120 miles by road from Anchorage on the Seward Highway, and the Alaska Railroad's Coastal Classic runs between the two. The organizer's race guide asks visitors to carpool or come by train. The town fills up fast for the Fourth, especially when it falls on a weekend as it does in 2027, so book early. In 2026 Seward High School rented tent sites for $40 a night and RV spots for $80, with a two-night minimum.

To watch, stand behind the fences on 4th Avenue, or go to the end of Jefferson Street to see racers hit the base. If you're fit enough to hike the mountain, go up the Jeep Trail from 1st Avenue and Monroe Street and stay off the race trail. Leave dogs and drones at home. All three races are livestreamed, and in 2026 a Jumbotron showed the stream near the finish.

Weather and what to bring

Bands of cloud across the mountains above the water at Seward
Heather Mount / Unsplash

July in Seward averages a high of 62°F and a low of 50°F, with measurable rain on about 13 days of the month, by NOAA's 1991 to 2020 normals for the airport. The organizer warns that rain makes the shale slippery, that there can be ice patches on the mountain, and that the summit can be windy with almost no visibility. Smoke is a risk too: the 2019 junior race was canceled for wildfire smoke.

Wear gloves; the organizer's guide calls them the minimum. Carry water if you'll want it, and finish with every piece of gear you started with. Be ready to get yourself down if you're hurt, because help on the mountain isn't guaranteed.

Mount Marathon checkpoints and GPS coordinates

For crews and spectators: each place on the map in decimal degrees, latitude first. Paste them into any map app or add them as waypoints in Goat Maps.

  • 4th Avenue and Adams Street (start)

    60.10284, -149.44049

  • 4th Avenue and Washington Street (finish)

    60.10101, -149.44052

  • Base of the mountain (Lowell Canyon Road gate)

    60.10373, -149.45255

  • Race Point (adult turnaround)

    3,022 ft (921 m)

    60.11019, -149.47539

Mount Marathon FAQ

When is Mount Marathon 2027?

Sunday, July 4, 2027, the 99th running. The start times aren't out yet. In 2026 the juniors went first at 9 a.m., then the men at 11:05 a.m. and the women at 2:05 p.m. The men's and women's races swap places each year, and in odd years like 2027 the men run last.

How do you get into Mount Marathon?

With priority status from past results, or through the lottery, both open March 1 to 31, 2027. In 2026 about one in three women and one in five men who entered the lottery got a bib.

How steep is Mount Marathon?

The organizer gives about 3.1 miles and nearly 3,000 feet of climbing. Past the road, the mountain gains about 2,675 feet in 0.9 miles, and the slope from the base to just below the summit rock averages 34 degrees.

What is the Mount Marathon course record?

David Norris ran 40:37 in 2024 and Allie McLaughlin 47:09 in 2022. Kilian Jornet (41:48) and Emelie Forsberg (47:48) both set records in 2015 that have since fallen. The fastest men's and women's descents on record are Taylor Turney's 9:54 (2023) and Denali Foldager Strabel's 11:27 (2018).

How high is Race Point?

The number on finishers' bumper stickers and on the organizer's map is 3,022 feet. In 2017 a group of UAA geomatics students measured it at 2,974 feet.

Can kids run Mount Marathon?

Yes. The junior race, for ages 9 to 17, goes halfway up the mountain. The free Mini Mount Marathon on 4th Avenue is for ages 2 to 6, and Race From the Base, new in 2026, is a free run of about two-thirds of a mile for ages 7 to 10, from the Lowell Canyon Road gate to the main finish. The adult races are for 18 and up.

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Updated . An unofficial guide, from the organizer's published information. Coordinates from the organizer's course and OpenStreetMap contributors. Photos from Unsplash. Organize a race? We help with course files.