Escalante Canyons Marathon
Marathon, Half Marathon & 5K Fun Run
Race Day: Saturday, October 12, 2024
WELCOME TO THE 2024 ESCALANTE CANYONS MARATHON, HALF MARATHON, AND 5K!
If you’re looking for a challenging race through a wildly scenic landscape, this is the race for you! With the Boulder Mountains and Dixie National Forest as a backdrop, the marathon and half traverse slickrock country on a well-maintained scenic byway deemed one of the world’s most beautiful roads. The courses are point-to-point between Boulder, Utah, and Escalante, Utah. Highlights of the marathon course include the Hogback, Calf’s Creek canyon, Head of the Rocks overlook, and views of the Straight Cliffs on the approach to Escalante. The half marathon starts at the halfway point of the marathon course and also includes gorgeous views. The 5K starts up a beautiful canyon, is mostly downhill, and ends at the finish line shared by the marathon and half.
Along with the beauty of the courses, the event runs through the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and is close to three national parks — Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon, and Zion — and has unlimited oppotunities for outdoor exploration and recreation.
The ECM is a small non-profit race organized by volunteers from the small communities along Scenic Byway 12. Our major sponsor is Garfield County, through their focus on supporting communities in Bryce Canyon Country. The race has been run every year since 2012, and we are dedicated to keeping it running for many years to come!
Whether you’ve already registered or are still thinking about it, whether you’re running the ECM for the first time or are among our valued return runners, we look forward to seeing you in October for what is guaranteed to be one of your most unforgettable experiences ever. We hope you’ll join us this year!
Race Day: October 12, 2024
Marathon Course is USA Track & Field Certified
Come and experience races like no others. The Escalante Canyons Marathon and Half Marathon Run offer wildly scenic vistas across a landscape of unmatched ruggedness, a course with dramatic topography, pristine air, and a profound sense of serenity.
The full marathon course has been certified by the USATF and is a Boston Marathon qualifying event.
Marathon
The marathon follows Utah’s All-American Scenic Highway 12, which has been called one of the the world’s most beautiful roadways. The race starts in Boulder, Utah, and finishes in Escalante. You will experience canyons lined with majestic sandstone cliffs, the famous Hog’s Back ridge, and the spectacular Calf Creek Canyons. After crossing the Escalante River, you’ll climb through rich red rocks that lead to unique limestone slickrock hills and washes …
Half Marathon
The half-marathon follosw the last half of the marathon course You will find the first three miles of the course to be a challenging uphill run through some of the most amazing slickrock vistas in Escalante Canyons, followed by a long downhill stretch to the finish line through sagebrush rangelands bounded by a background of cliffs (the “staircase” of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument) …
What Runners Are Saying
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