2026 Erie Marathon - Sep 13

2026 Erie Marathon - Sep 13 Countdown

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Race Information

Race2026 Erie Marathon - Sep 13
CityErie
Date2026-09-13 at 07:00
Field Size~2,000 runners
Time Limit6 hours
Cutoff pace8:32/km
TimezoneAmerica/New_York
Official SiteErie Runners Club

Race Day Weather

Average Temperature18.5°C / 65°F
Humidity73%
Wind12.2 km/h
Rain Chance44%
Typical ConditionsCool 7 a.m. start close to the daily normal low of 56.9°F / 13.8°C, climbing toward a 73.1°F / 22.8°C normal high

What to Prepare: NOAA's daily normals for September 13 at Erie International Airport are a low of 56.9°F / 13.8°C and a high of 73.1°F / 22.8°C, and the 7 a.m. gun sits close to the low. A 3:30 finisher is done before the day turns; anyone out past five and a half hours races into the climb, so dress for the start but plan fluids for the finish. Each lap runs out along one road and back on the other, so a headwind on one leg becomes a tailwind on the other — run the effort, not the gust.

Based on historical averages for race week. Use our Weather Score Calculator and What to Wear Guide for personalized advice.

Wind Impact on Race Day

Wind at 12.2 km/h can affect your marathon pace by 5-15 seconds per kilometer. Headwinds slow you down exponentially — a 20 km/h wind costs more than twice a 10 km/h wind.

Calculate your wind-adjusted pace →

Race-Week Climate

Based on 20 years of race-week weather (2005-2024), MERRA-2 reanalysis

Cooler Typical Warmer
Temperature 14.3°C 18.8°C 22.1°C
Dew point 8.5°C 13.4°C 18.1°C
Wet-day chance: 44% Runnability: 73/100

Data: NASA POWER (MERRA-2 reanalysis), NASA Langley Research Center

Course Profile

Course TypeTwo laps, out and back along the peninsula
Elevation Gain25m
TerrainRoad — paved park roads, about a third concrete, with a grass shoulder alongside most of the route; open to park traffic, runners in the left lane
ProfileTwo laps entirely inside Presque Isle State Park, a 3,200-acre sandy peninsula curving into Lake Erie, starting and finishing at the Beach One / Erie Runners Club pavilion about half a mile inside the park's single entrance. The organizers publish exactly one elevation figure — less than a 250-foot total change across the whole marathon — and it is a total change, not a cumulative gain; the widely quoted 10-foot gap between the high and low points comes from third-party database findmymarathon, not from the race. The surface is mostly asphalt with about a third concrete, and a grass shoulder runs alongside most of the paved route if you want it. The park stays open to cars during the race, so runners hold the left lane and run facing traffic. USATF-certified and a Boston qualifier.
Boston QualifierYes — Check your BQ time

Finisher Trend

Year Finishers vs prev.
2021 470 —
2022 756 +60.9%
2023 956 +26.5%
2024 1,022 +6.9%
2025 1,103 +7.9%

Runners who crossed the line, not the registered field size.

Course Analysis

Two Laps of a Sandbar, Sharing the Road

The entire race happens inside Presque Isle State Park, a 3,200-acre sandy peninsula that arches into Lake Erie. You start and finish at the Beach One / Erie Runners Club pavilion, roughly half a mile inside what the organizers call "the main (and only) entrance," and cover two laps of the park on the old lake road and the main road. With one road onto the peninsula, navigation is trivial.

The part almost nobody expects: the park does not close. In the organizers' own words, "Traffic on the park is maintained throughout the race" — runners hold the left lane, cars keep the right, and road marshals cover the few intersections where the course crosses traffic. Running facing traffic is deliberate, "allowing for better awareness; and a safer race." Keep headphone volume low enough to hear a marshal.

Underfoot, the organizers put a number on the part that hurts: mostly asphalt, but about a third of the course is concrete, and "most of the course offers a grass surface along the paved surface should you choose to run there." Shade is real, too — the official FAQ calls it "a nice mix of shade and sun," not the exposed sun-trap a sandbar suggests.

Scale check, because Erie's reputation outruns its size: third-party tracker findmymarathon counts 1,103 finishers in 2025, up from 1,022 in 2024 — yet by the same tracker's ranking Erie slid from the 82nd to the 84th largest US marathon across those two years, because the rest of the country's fields grew faster.

Start to the Hairpin: Miles 1-13

The gun is at 7:00 a.m. EDT and the course heads away from the park entrance, which matters more than it sounds. Until 2017 the "legendary hairpin turn" sat near the first mile; the organizers reversed the course that year so it now falls "close to the halfway mark," a change they say "effectively eliminated the race start congestion" and credit for "an increase in PR's and BQ's."

Aid is dense, and the two official sources give two different numbers: the race website says stations sit "approximately every 1-2 miles," while the organizers' RunSignUp listing says "about a mile apart." Both are their own text, so prepare for anywhere in that band. Every station has water and lemon-lime Gatorade with a porta-potty alongside, and the route additionally passes 14 permanent restrooms — "basically all of the buildings you will pass have or are restrooms."

Flat courses punish enthusiasm quietly. With no hill to meter your effort against, lap one is where a qualifying attempt usually dies — run it to a number rather than to feel, and move to the grass shoulder early if the concrete sections start talking to your shins. Our pace calculator turns your goal into the per-mile split you actually have to hold.

Lap Two and the Mile-14 Road Reopening

The only intermediate time on the official course page is not a finish cutoff at all: "Road reopening starts mile 14 at about the 3 hour, 14 minute mark." As a cumulative average that is 13:51 per mile (8:37/km) — marginally looser than the overall six-hour limit.

That slack is the trap. Spend all of it and you have 166 minutes left for the remaining 12.2 miles, which is 13:36 per mile (8:27/km) — faster than the average that got you there. Run the six-hour pace instead and you reach mile 14 at about 3:12, with under two minutes in hand on the reopening. Either way lap two is the tighter half. (Those cumulative and segment paces are ours, derived from the official times.)

The overall limit is six hours, which works out to 13:44 per mile (8:32/km); the race website rounds it to "a 13.75 minute mile" and the organizers' RunSignUp listing states a "14-minute" pace. Take that last figure literally over 26.2 miles and you finish around 6:07 — seven minutes past the limit, so pace off the six-hour number, not off the listing. Missing it does not end your day: officially "you can still finish and receive a medal, but the course will be closed... you must complete your race by running on the all-purpose trail near the road," and park rangers can request that runners move to the trail earlier than that.

Racing It for a Qualifier

Erie's qualifying reputation is real but far from stable, and the numbers are not the organizers'. Third-party database findmymarathon puts the Boston qualifying rate at 32.6% of finishers in 2025 and 38.9% in 2024, with 27.6% (2023), 34.1% (2022) and 20.9% (2021) behind them — a five-year mean near 30.8% (our calculation) across an 18-point spread. Flat does not mean predictable.

The race also refuses to tell you which Boston your time buys: "we do not know which year or years The Erie Marathon will qualify you for... We find out when you find out." What is published, by the B.A.A., is the calendar around race day — the 2027 Boston application window runs September 14-18, 2026, opening the morning after Erie, and the 2028 qualifying window opens September 19, 2026. Erie sends results to the B.A.A. inside the two-week deadline and the B.A.A. takes up to three weeks to verify them. Check the standard with our Boston qualifying calculator and confirm the year with the B.A.A. itself.

One variable you can delete: both laps return to the same pavilion, so the course has no net descent, and the B.A.A.'s downhill time adjustment — which starts at 1,500 feet of net drop — never touches an Erie time.

Two logistics that decide the last hour. Pace groups are contracted through marathonpacing.com and RaceJoy tracking is offered, but the official course page warns that pacer attendance varies with availability, and cell coverage on the peninsula "may be limited or non-existent" depending on your carrier. Tell whoever is waiting at Beach One to watch the clock rather than the tracking app.

Prepare for 2026 Erie Marathon - Sep 13

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Featured In

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Frequently Asked Questions

When is the 2026 Erie Marathon and what time does it start?

The 2026 Erie Marathon at Presque Isle runs on Sunday, September 13, 2026, starting at 7:00 a.m. EDT at the Beach One / Erie Runners Club pavilion inside Presque Isle State Park; the official race window closes at 1:00 p.m. It is a marathon-only event — the organizers state they have no current plans for a relay, and the Erie Runners Club half marathon is a separate race held in July.

How much elevation gain does the Erie Marathon course have?

The organizers publish exactly one elevation figure, and it is a total change rather than a cumulative gain: "less than a 250 foot total change in elevation for the entire marathon," wording that appears in both the official FAQ and their RunSignUp listing. No official cumulative-gain number exists. The often-repeated 10 feet between the high and low points comes from third-party database findmymarathon, as does the 84-foot (25 m) cumulative-gain figure shown in our course data; neither is the race's own number. Either way there is no climb here worth pacing around.

Are the roads closed to traffic during the Erie Marathon?

No — and it is a safety point rather than a technicality. The official course page states that "Traffic on the park is maintained throughout the race," with runners in the left lane, cars in the right, and road marshals at the few intersections where runners cross traffic. Runners face oncoming traffic by design, "allowing for better awareness; and a safer race." The organizers ask that headphone volume stay low enough to hear marshals and pre-race instructions.

What is the time limit, and what happens at mile 14?

Six hours overall, which works out to 13:44 per mile (8:32/km); the race website rounds this to "a 13.75 minute mile" while the organizers' RunSignUp listing states a "14-minute" pace, which over 26.2 miles would actually land you at about 6:07. The only intermediate time the race publishes is the road reopening: "Road reopening starts mile 14 at about the 3 hour, 14 minute mark" — a 13:51 per mile cumulative average, after which only 166 minutes remain for the last 12.2 miles. Missing the limit is not a disqualification: you still finish and receive a medal, but on the park's all-purpose trail, and rangers may move runners there earlier.

How do I register, and does the Erie Marathon sell out?

Entry is through RunSignUp at $120 plus an $8.70 platform fee, with the price stepping up "after August 31, 2026 at 11:59pm EDT" — that is a price change, not an entry deadline. The field is capped at 2,000 (the organizers note the cap can be cut by emergency management or the state park) and "there will not be a wait list this year." As of August 1, 2026, 43 days out, RunSignUp's participant list showed 1,480 of the 2,000 places taken. No closing date is published; entry is first-come until the cap. Runners aged 80 to 100 enter free ($0.00), applied at checkout.

Can I refund, defer or transfer my Erie Marathon entry?

No, on all three. The official wording is "non-refundable, non-deferrable and non-transferable. Sorry, no exceptions," and the FAQ adds that no reply will be sent to emails asking for refunds, transfers, deferrals or an exception to the cap. The rule has teeth at packet pickup, where you must show photo ID and be photographed with your bib — "refusal to be photographed will result in disqualification." RunSignUp sells third-party registration insurance at checkout, which the race explicitly does not warrant.

Where do I park, and can my family watch the race?

Not at the start line. Race-day parking is free at Waldameer Park and the Tom Ridge Center, and everyone walks in — the official FAQ says "approximately ½ mile," the RunSignUp listing says ".6 miles," so budget for the longer figure. Roadside parking inside the park is prohibited and "illegally parked vehicles will be ticketed by park police." Spectating is genuinely hard: supporters must also walk in from Waldameer, cannot be on any roadway "or they will be fined by the park," and there are no food vendors or drink machines in the park — bring everything in.

What is the weather usually like at the Erie Marathon?

NOAA's daily normals for September 13 at Erie International Airport are a low of 56.9°F / 13.8°C and a high of 73.1°F / 22.8°C. A 7 a.m. start sits close to the low, so lap one is cool and the back half warms — a throwaway top for the start and nothing heavier. Because each lap runs out along one road and back on the other, wind hits as a headwind on one leg and a tailwind on the next, so pace by effort. Our what-to-wear tool turns the forecast into a kit list.

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