Bethel Half Marathon & 5K

5K runners will return to the school after making one large loop. Half Marathon runners will initially follow in the wake of the 5K runners, before heading down highway 110, Love Joy Road and beginning a gentle incline (moderate hill) until turning back on Lake Logan Road. The rest of the Half Marathon is relatively flat (large majority of the course is in the flood plain of the Pigeon River), essentially making a figure '8'. The midway point lies somewhere in the vicinity of the school, with the latter part heading toward Canton, before returning once again to the school. As with the 5K, the race finish is on the school track. Please remember to watch for traffic!

Run along the peaceful, tree-lined backcountry roads of the area made famous by Charles Frazier's best-selling novel 'Cold Mountain,' the Bethel Half Marathon & 5K takes runners along an out-and-back course filled with the changing autumn leaves, the rolling Appalachian mountains in the distance and the Pigeon River that flows near town.

From the starting line at Bethel Middle School on Sonoma Road, the course for the half takes runners from the school down highway 110, then to Love Joy Road, and then begins a moderately inclining uphill until a turn back onto Lake Logan Road. After this turn, the remainder of the course is mostly flat, as the race course lies in the flood plain of North Carolina's Pigeon River. As for the 5K, the finish line is on the Middle School's running track.

On the half marathon course, runners should look for water stations at four stops and organizers caution all participants to be aware of traffic on the roadways along the course. More than 270 runners crossed the finish line in both races combined at the event's 2008 running, with nearly 170 of those runners finishing the half marathon alone.