Success

The Montgomery County Marathon in the Parks has been a tremendous success for the runners competing in the marathons and for the Montgomery County parks system that the race benefits. Created by the Montgomery Parks Foundation and the Montgomery County Road Runners Club (MCRRC), the event showcases one of the most extensive metropolitan parks systems in the country while providing runners with a competetive, top-notch race.

• The course is unique. Just outside Washington DC, Montgomery County is a community of nearly 900,000 citizens. While the race runs directly through the most populous area of Montgomery County, the vast majority of the course travels through preserved parkland along the Rock Creek Stream Valley. This unique course provides runners with a completely new experience for a major metropolitan marathon. The gently rolling, but net downhill point-to-point course has yielded plenty of PRs throughout the years, and the Marathon in the Parks an unusually high portion of overall finishers qualify for the Boston Marathon!
• The deep award structure features generous prize money for the top runners as well as prizes for mid-pack and back-of-the-pack runners, too.
• Our Expo and pre-race Pasta Dinner, hosted by Mamma Lucia provides runners with great shopping, great food, and complimentary massages before the race - all conveniently located just blocks from the Metro rail system and within walking distance of the finish line.

Value

Perhaps most exciting is our ability to provide a world-class marathon for a very moderate entry fee! Thanks to our tremendous sponsors and non-profit administration, runners will receive every feature they could want from the best marathons in the world, PLUS an embroidered long-sleeve Coolmax wind shirt and the beautiful, commemorative Marathon in the Parks double-sided medal for an incredibly low entry fee. You'll be amazed at the course logistics and on-course runner support provided by our 800+ volunteers and over 100 police officers and transportation officials.

Partners

With over 3,700 members, the MCRRC is one of the largest non-profit running organizations in the country. The MCRRC administers over 50 races a year, from low-key club races to the national class Pike's Peek 10K and Twilighter 8K in Rockville, Maryland. Now, after more than 25 years of running in Montgomery County, the MCRRC has put its considerable experience and resources toward the County's first marathon.

The Montgomery Parks Foundation, established in 1992, is a non-profit charitable organization that helps fund park needs in the county, including acquisition of land, preservation of stream valleys, construction of facilities, and sponsorship of programs and services that benefit both residents and visitors. The foundation works in cooperation with private citizens, businesses, foundations, the Maryland-National Park and Planning Commission, and the Montgomery County Department of Parks and Planning.

The Marathon in the Parks is more than a 26.2-mile foot race, it is a simultaneous celebration of running, nature, and community in the place where all three come together every day - Montgomery County, Maryland!