IU Health 500 Festival Mini-Marathon
Distances
Starting Time
7:30 AM
Fees
$68+
Perfect For
Overview
Experience the thrill of the IU Health 500 Festival Mini-Marathon and Delta Dental 500 Festival 5K on May 3, 2025, and join over 25,000 participants from around the world for the 49th year running.
Held just weeks before the iconic Indianapolis 500, the course is flat and fast, offering runners and walkers the unique experience of completing a lap around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway at the halfway point before heading toward the finish line.
Recognized by US Today’s 10Best as ‘America’s Best Half Marathon’ and by Runner’s World as one of ‘America’s Most Iconic Races,’ the Mini continues to draw excitement year after year.
Course Description
As for the course itself, it takes participants through some of Indianapolis’s most scenic streets, starting on the eastern side of the White River and running westward along first Washington Street and then Michigan Street, before turning north at Olin Park on its way toward the motor speedway. Runners take a lap around the oval at the speedway (which has got to be one of the most original features of any road race anywhere) and then head back along Holt Road and West 10th Street toward the White River.
Once they reach the White River Parkway/Bloomington Street, runners turn south and then east across the New York Street bridge, and through the campus of Indiana University, before winding up at the finish line at Military Park.
Like pretty much everything else for the weekend, everything about the race is big — all told, nearly 90,000 runners, spectators and volunteers enjoy the festivities at the finish line celebration each year, taking in the food, music and the Miller Lite Beer Garden.
