Two of the state’s top long-distance running events take place this coming weekend in Northwest Arkansas.
The competition starts Saturday with the Run Bentonville Half Marathon, which was first held in 2011. The race starts in downtown Bentonville, and the last three miles or so are entirely uphill, taking runners through the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art property on the way back toward downtown and the finish line.
There’s a five-kilometer course for those looking for a shorter distance.
Sunday’s tradition of the Hogeye Marathon in Fayetteville is hard to match. Started in 1977 as a race from Fayetteville to the small Washington County community of Hogeye and back, the 26.2-mile race’s course has been modified to take runners through the most scenic areas of Fayetteville.
The race starts on the Fayetteville Square and ends in the city’s Dickson Street entertainment district.
The course skirts the northern edge of the University of Arkansas campus and goes through a western part of the city. It eventually takes runners north and then east where they’ll loop around Lake Fayetteville and then follow the Razorback Regional Greenway back to the downtown area.
There’s also a Hogeye Half Marathon and a five-kilometer run/walk to provide runners with additional options.
