The course for both the full and the half marathons follows an overall descent from the mountains to the city, with the full, 26.2-mile marathon starting to the east of downtown on Highway 39, and the half marathon starting at the mid-way point of the full marathon, along the northern edge of Pineview Reservoir in the Wasatch-Cache National Forest.
From there, those running the half follow the route as it winds around the edges of the lake, along Highway 62 until it meets up with Highway 139.
Once they’re on 139, runners head into the Ogden Canyon and the portion of the race that runs alongside the roaring flow of the Ogden River for the next several miles.
From the start of the half-marathon (which lies at about 5,000 feet above sea level), the course stays mostly flat for the first seven miles or so, and then begins to drop in fairly steep descents as runners make their way closer into town along the highway.
The views along this stretch of the race route are truly breathtaking, race organizers say, as the pine-tree-covered slopes of the Wasatch Mountains give way later in the race to steep, sheer rock faces along the mountains, and runners also get to see small neigborhoods of homes along the edges of the river.
By the time runners reach the race finish line, near the intersection of Washington Boulevard and 25th street in downtown Ogden, they will have descended roughly 700 feet in elevation from the start of the half, as the finish line lies at about 4,300 feet above sea level.
Scheduled starting time for the race is 7:00 AM, which means that those running the half will need to have boarded the race buses on Washington Boulevard by 5:00 AM on the morning of the race (5:15 AM for VIP runners).
