Steamtown Marathon

The directions on the organiser’s course page open with “START” at “Forest City High School (FCHS)” and close with “FINISH at Federal Courthouse/Courthouse Square”. The FAQ places the finish “on N. Washington Avenue between Linden Street and Biden Street (formerly Spruce Street) (Courthouse Square)”.

The 2026 schedule has buses boarding in Downtown Scranton from 5:30 a.m., the trip to the starting line taking “approximately 45 minutes”, the last bus leaving at 6:45 a.m. and the marathon starting at 8:00 a.m. The FAQ says “about 80% of all runners take one of our buses to the start” and asks runners not to leave a vehicle at the start: “We will not be providing return transportation to the starting line!” It adds that “All parking meters are free on race day” in Downtown Scranton.

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The organiser’s homepage gives “955′ Elevation Drop”, about 291 m from Forest City down to Scranton. Its FAQ says: “Although there is a lot of downhill at Steamtown, especially during the first eight miles, there are several challenging uphills in the final three miles.” The course directions flag one steep spot early, “0.95 miles – Turn left onto Dundaff St. (VERY STEEP DOWNHILL)”, and mark the start of Cooper’s Hill at 25.41 miles, with the finish at 26.20 miles.

On pacing, the FAQ reports runners advising “an even split for both halves of the race” and “against trying to bank time”, because going out too fast “will put tremendous strain on your quad muscles”.

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The rules page has a section headed “Six Hour Time Limit”. It “respectfully requests that you enter only if you are confident that you can finish the course in six hours or less (an approximately 13-minute per mile pace)”. Traffic control, health and safety volunteers and race officials “will vacate the course six hours after the start (2:00 p.m.)”, and “Anyone who continues to run on the course after 2:00 p.m. will be doing so at his/her own risk”. Anyone who finishes after seven hours (3:00 p.m.) “will not be listed in the official race results and may not receive a finisher’s medal”. The 2026 gun is at 8:00 a.m.

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The organiser’s course page says the marathon “is a USATF-certified event and is an official Boston Marathon qualifier”. The FAQ puts a number on it: “on average, 28% of Steamtown finishers qualify for Boston”, and says that once results are official the race forwards them “directly to Boston’s registration department”.

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