Iron Horse Half Marathon

The Iron Horse Half Marathon is a point to point half marathon taking place in Washington state on the Palouse to Cascade Trail (part of Washington State Parks) and Snoqualmie Valley Trail (part of the King County Parks system). Both trails are the remains of old railroad tracks, hence the ‘Iron Horse’ moniker. The course is nearly all downhill at a steady, gentle grade, except for some very short flat sections.

THE COURSE

The course for the Iron Horse Half Marathon is pretty awesome. It starts at Olallie State Park and finishes in North Bend at Meadowbrook Farm, and in between the two covers 13.1 miles of beautiful scenery, numerous railroad trestles, and a whole lot of gentle elevation loss. Please see below for detailed course information, as well as a map of the course. There is an elevation loss of approximately 880 feet. The course starts at about 1300′ and finishes at about 400′ in North Bend. The entirety of the course is unpaved and consists of hard packed dirt. Regular road running shoes work great.

There are a total of 5 aid stations along the course. We strongly recommend that all runners bring extra water and/or an extra bottle with them, in the case of hot temperatures (which are not uncommon in August) to help prevent dehydration. Aid stations are 2-3 miles apart.

Schedule

The Iron Horse Half will start in waves! Pre-assigned waves of 150 participants or less will start every 10 minutes. Your wave start time is based off of your estimated finish time and the fastest runners will start first.

6:30-8:30am: Shuttles run to start line

7:15am: Walker wave (anyone with an est. finish time 3:30 or greater)

7:30am: first wave

7:40am: second wave

7:50am: third wave

8:40am: final wave

1:00pm: Course is completely closed

Support Small & Local Businesses: Shop Northwest in Motion

We source directly from small and family-owned businesses in Italy and Europe.

This enables us to sell unique, high-quality fitness attire at reasonable prices.

Get updates about the freshest additions to our inventory: Subscribe, or follow us on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.