MARATHON WEEKEND

Frequently Asked Questions

Marathon and Half Marathon Finish Questions:

If I sign up to run or walk the full Portland Marathon and get hurt during my training etc, can I start the Marathon and then decide to run in to the finish on the 1/2 Marathon course?

No. Crashing the last few miles of the Half-Marathon Course is unfair to the runners who registered for the event.

Here are additional facts around this prohibition:

The Marathon and Half-Marathon are separate and distinct events. They are not interchangeable.
The Marathon and Half Marathon are events that are provided and hosted in order to enhance each other.
The planning and preparation for each event is a careful undertaking by a small volunteer staff to make sure each runner receives their proper time, awards, finisher shirt and finish area amenities.
The Marathon and Half-Marathon are separate, marked and chip-timed courses. Registered Marathon runners who decide to run the Half-marathon although they are not registered for it, will negatively impact the finish results for the registered half-marathoners.
To maintain the integrity of the finish area for both events, it will be necessary for Event officials to remove any Marathon runners who improperly run the Half Marathon course at a Checkpoint established for that purpose before they reach the Finish line. These runners will be DISQUALIFIED from the event, will not be awarded a time, and will reflect a DQ result (which could affect the ability to get into other certified marathons). They will not receive a finisher's shirt for the event they registered for, nor any of the other finish area amenities offered by our event. Additionally, these runners will be barred from participating in future Portland Marathon events.
Half-Marathon registration, which is and will continue to be limited, has been closed for more than five months, with the exception of the Charity Half Marathon applications that are still available through our Official Charities.
Our charities are recruiting people who will run the Half-Marathon and assist them in raising money while doing so. These are premium entries that benefit many worthy causes. (If you are interested in applying for the Half-marathon through one of the charities, you may get more information at the Portland Marathon website under "Charities") Any runner on the Half Marathon course without an official Half Marathon bib will dilute the efforts of these charitable programs and dedicated runners.

If a Marathon participant is not able to finish the whole course, for whatever reason, the Half-Marathon is NOT a secondary option. Instead, please follow these Event Guidelines:

Run, and stay on the full marathon course and drop out at the 1/2 marathon mark of the full marathon course.
The location of mile 13.1 is on St Helens Road. There is good access to the location from NW Yeon Ave and downtown. Thus, an easy place for someone to arrange a pick up.
In addition the 1/2 marathon point is marked, it is a chip read position. The time for a person who misses the later chip points will automatically cause the name not to be posted in the results. However, if someone who drops out notifies us a week or two after the event we can provide them a time from our un-posted file.

The Portland Marathon and Half Marathon Planning Committee thanks you in advance for participating in accordance with the guidelines of these events and assisting us to maintain the sanctioned quality provided by all those who work hard to produce these events for your enjoyment.