⚠️ Schedule update due to Friday storms: Trail Run now starts 3:15 PM Friday · Kids Run moved to Saturday at 2:30 PM · Details →
Three days, six races, one city — rocks and roots in Walking Purchase Park, mascot high‑fives at the Kids Run finish, Main Street and the Monocacy underfoot, and a finish line party in the shadow of the blast furnaces.
From Friday afternoon on the trails to Sunday's half marathon finish, there's a distance for every pace and every level — and a sponsor cheering it on.
Friday
Saturday
Saturday
Saturday
Sunday
Sunday
All Weekend
All Weekend
All Weekend
A dedicated stretch of the start/finish festival grounds set aside just for Lehigh Valley run clubs — and any clubs traveling in to join them. Pitch a tent, fly your colors, and make Run Club Row your crew's home base for the whole weekend.
Run Club Row is full for 2026. Thanks to every club that signed up — come find them on the Row and cheer your friends in.
Three coworkers, one half marathon, and a four-foot trophy with your company’s name on it. Relay teams split the 13.1-mile course into two five-mile legs and a 5K — and the fastest team in the field is crowned the fastest company in the Lehigh Valley.
Entering is simple: register a three-person relay team and put your company’s name at the front of the team name — for example, B. Braun FastFlash. That’s all it takes to be in the running for the Cup.
Enter Your Company’s Team →Take the stress out of the early morning routine with private restrooms, gear check, continental breakfast items and more before and after your big moment.
Registration add-on for the Half Marathon, Triple Play, or Quadruple Play
Add a Jefferson Bethlehem Running Festival quarter-zip ($65 value) and the all-new Bethlehem Running Festival In-Training short sleeve.
13.1 miles through Bethlehem is better with a crowd. These are the spots where the city shows up loudest — and where your friends and family should plant themselves.
High-energy send-off at the base of the historic blast furnaces.
Right where the courses turn back toward the finish — a guaranteed loud stretch on every race.
A Half Marathon-only stop, roughly two-thirds of the way through the course.
The loudest zone of all: the finish-line party with live DJ, food, and drinks.
The half marathon is a lap around 280 years of Bethlehem — the Moravian settlement, the steel plant, and the greenway the city is building now. Every mile tells part of the story.
The blast furnaces above the Lehigh — the river the half marathon crosses twice.
The half crosses the footbridge over the Monocacy Creek into the Colonial Industrial Quarter — past the 1761 Tannery and the site of the Bethlehem Waterworks, the first pump-driven municipal water system in North America — then climbs Church and High Streets through the settlement the Moravians founded in 1741. In 2024 that district was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
You start and finish beneath five blast furnaces — the two tallest over 230 feet, the oldest dating to 1915 — that last ran on November 18, 1995. The steel made on this site went into the Golden Gate Bridge and the Empire State Building. Today it’s a ten-acre arts campus, and the same skyline watches over the finish line party on the Levitt Lawn.
The middle of the course runs north through the neighborhoods and out along the Monocacy Trail, past the restored grist mill at Illick’s Mill and through Monocacy Park. This is the Bethlehem being built now — parks, trails, and greenway stitched between the city’s two halves, and the quietest, prettiest miles of the day.
USATF-certified course PA23026NP · 21.0975 km · 381′ high point, 210′ low
Here's what's on, hour by hour.
Every registration and every dollar raised helps fund the American Cancer Society's mission — including breast cancer awareness and research initiatives. The festival has raised more than $80,000 for the ACS. Run your race, and it counts for something bigger than a finish time.
Fundraise for ACS →Not a runner? Injured? Still want to be part of a great weekend of running — and support the American Cancer Society while you’re at it? Come volunteer. Water stations, course marshals, packet pickup, the finish line: the festival runs on people in pink shirts, and there’s a job for every schedule.
See Open Volunteer Roles → Volunteer FAQ & Shift TimesBringing a group? Qualifying organizations can earn up to $35 per person through our donation program. Email Trish at trish@runegades.com with questions or to sign your organization up.
Hi, and thank you for visiting the Jefferson Bethlehem Running Festival neighborhood information page. Participants will be running through the city on October 17th and 18th.
5K and 10K — 7:30 am to 10:30 am
Half Marathon and Half Marathon Relay — 8:00 am to 11:30 am
If you’ve gotten a doorhanger or seen a sign on the street in front of your building, runners will be running down your street on the weekend of October 17th and/or 18th. This means that:
To determine when your street and streets in your neighborhood will be closed, see the course maps below with the lead and tail times of our runners. Your street will be closed roughly 15 minutes before the first runners arrive and will reopen within 15 minutes after the final runners pass. Please allow extra time for travel, particularly when going to places on Saturday and Sunday mornings.
Lead and tail times are shown at each mile marker. Tap the map to view it full size.
Lead and tail times are shown at each mile marker. Tap the map to view it full size.
The Jefferson Bethlehem Running Festival is made possible by partners who believe in this city and this community.
Presenting sponsor of the Jefferson Bethlehem Running Festival.
Starting in 2026, Jefferson becomes the title sponsor of the festival, and the event is now the Jefferson Bethlehem Running Festival. Jefferson Health is the sponsor of the half marathon. The race weekend, courses, and Bethlehem hometown spirit stay the same.
Registration for all races — Trail Run, Kids Run, 5K, 10K, Half Marathon, Relay, and multi-event passes — is handled through RunSignup. Use the Register button above to get started.
All events start and finish at SteelStacks, with the Sunday finish-line party held on the Levitt Lawn.
Run Club Row is full for 2026. Thanks to every club that signed up! Come find them on the Row and cheer your friends in.
Register a three-person relay team on RunSignup and put your company’s name at the front of your team name — for example, B. Braun FastFlash. Every company-named relay team is automatically scored for the Cup, and the fastest one takes it. There’s no separate entry fee or form.
Runners know — Bethlehem bling is king. Every runner receives:
Awards go three deep across a lot of categories:
Yes. Our courses run directly through the streets of Bethlehem, and those streets can’t stay closed longer than our allotted times. If you don’t finish within the limit, you may be asked to cut part of the course or be picked up by our runner transport.
Sign up through our Signup Genius to see what roles are open across the weekend. If your organization wants to volunteer as a group, email Trish at trish@runegades.com — qualifying organizations can earn up to $35 per person through our donation program.
Results post live on Second Wind Timing as you finish — scan the QR code on your bib for instant results. Free race photos are tagged to your bib.
