Steamtown Marathon

The Steamtown Marathon is a USATF-certified event and is an official Boston Marathon qualifier. The course features a net elevation drop of 955’. The point-to-point course runs through 14 communities and includes approximately 4.2 miles of paved rails-to-trails along the Lackawanna River. There are 14 official stations and several port-a-lav stations on the course. In a Runner’s World online survey completed by thousands of runners, Steamtown was named the 6th best overall marathon. Runner’s World has also named Steamtown one of the nation’s 10 best for first time marathoners. Steamtown has been consistently ranked as one of the nation’s fastest marathon courses by several running magazines and Web sites. On average, 22% to 25% of Steamtown finishers qualify for the Boston Marathon. Although Steamtown’s course may be fast, it is not necessarily easy. The significant down hills in the first eight miles tend to beat up your quads making it a challenge to tackle the three notable up hills in the last three miles of the course. The up hills aren’t terribly long (one to four blocks each) or terribly steep, but their locations in the last few miles can take their toll on even the most experienced runners.