Heart of America Marathon
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Heart of America Marathon & Relay : Columbia, Missouri
The Columbia Track Club presents the 67th Heart of America Marathon and the 7th annual relay. The event is held at the Boone County History and Culture Center (Nifong Park) at 3801 Ponderosa St, Columbia, MO. It is a historic, continuously run marathon first held in 1960 and identified as the second oldest continuously running marathon in the United States.
The course is 26.2 miles starting and finishing at Nifong Park. The route includes approximately 5.5 miles of well-maintained gravel roads and trails, about 1.5 miles along the Katy Trail by the Missouri River, and passes Cooper’s Landing, the community of Easley and the well-known Easley Hill. The course skirts Rock Bridge State Park and returns toward Columbia via Philips Lake.
Aid stations are provided at 13 locations with water and ice at all stations and sports drink available starting at Cooper’s Landing; no nutrition is provided so participants must plan their own fuel. The event is run on an open course; runners must yield to traffic and run single file where required. A six hour time limit is enforced and cutoff extensions are not allowed. Medical support and a sweep vehicle are provided.
Relay teams of two to four runners follow the same course with defined relay legs. Packet pickup and other logistical details are provided by the organizer. Registration policies include no race-day registration and no refunds; transfers are allowed within the organizer’s published deadlines. Visit the organization's website for the most recent information.
