Saturday, August 22, 2020 • Annapolis, MD • Course Map
Named in honor of the local running coach who trained many runners over the years with his well-known Moore’s Marine Marathon Training program — which prepared runners for the annual fall running of the Marine Corps Marathon in nearby Washington, D.C. — the Ben Moore Memorial Half Marathon & 10K takes runners on a winding (and hilly and challenging) tour of the streets of Annapolis.
The out-and-back course for the race starts and finishes at the Truman Parkway Park & Ride, where Moore began and ended so many of his group training runs over his two-decade career as a running coach here in Annapolis.
A former Marine himself, Moore incorporated many of the city’s daunting uphills and downhill stretches into his training runs, many of which are included in the race route for this event, which also serves as a benefit for four local nonprofit organizations: the Anne Arundel County Auxiliary Police, the Wounded Warrior Project, Rude Ranch Animal Rescue, Chesapeake Hospice House and METAvivor, a charity focused on helping those with stage 4 breast cancer.
From the starting line just off the Truman Parkway — the race starting time is 7:30 AM — runners then head west along the Truman Parkway on a route that runs roughly in parallel with Highway 301 for the first couple of miles.
These early miles don’t start off easy, however, as a small hill to start off with is followed by a steeper, curving hill, which itself is followed by a number of rolling hills over the next few miles.
As one runner noted in a review of the 2009 race, it is clear from the race course that “Moore’s Marines” got their name for a reason — hilly, difficult training routes just like this one.
The course also takes runners through some of Annapolis’s most scenic neighborhoods, with many tree-shaded stretches especially along Mastline Drive and Pinedale Drive, which runners trek through in the early and middle portions of the race.
These stretches also feature a number of out-and-back stints — including between miles 5 and 6 along Pinedale, miles 7 and 8 along Macklebeth Court, and around the mile 10 marker along 2nd Street — but they’re generally all run through residential, neighborhood streets.
There’s one loop turnaround section around the grounds of the Bay Area Community Church between miles 8 and 9, after which runners head back south toward the Truman Parkway, where they begin the return route back along the route they ran in the first couple of miles — and where they’ll repeat those early hills — back in to the finish line at the park and ride area.
Race Weather & Climate
Nestled along the coast of Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay, about 30 miles south of Baltimore and 32 miles east of Washington, D.C., Annapolis typically sees its second-warmest month of the year in August, which has brought record temperatures here as low as 43°F (in 1951) and as high as 103°F (in 1983).
On race day (Aug. 22), the average low is 71ºF and the average high is 88ºF.
Past Results
- 2019 Ben Moore Memorial Half Marathon Results
- 2018 Ben Moore Memorial Half Marathon Results
- 2017 Ben Moore Memorial Half Marathon Results
- 2016 Ben Moore Memorial Half Marathon Results
- 2015 Ben Moore Memorial Half Marathon Results
- 2014 Ben Moore Memorial Half Marathon Results
- 2013 Ben Moore Memorial Half Marathon Results
- 2012 Ben Moore Memorial Half Marathon Results
Course Map
See the race route map for the Ben Moore Memorial Half Marathon here.
Starting Time
7:30 AM
Fees
$40 – $50
Registration
To reserve your spot in the 2020 running of Annapolis’s Ben Moore Memorial Half Marathon or 10K race, register online at Active.com here.
Official Race Website
Facebook Conversations
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