The Alley Trail Marathon

2023 Runner's Guide now available! 

Back for its third year, the Alley Trail Marathon offers fast and fun trail racing just outside Columbus, Ohio at Alley Park!

The race benefits Friends of Lancaster Parks and Recreation, a non-profit dedicated to enhancing and expanding the program of Lancaster Parks and Recreation.

All runners will receive a high-quality event shirt, a free meal after the race, free race photos, and digital chip timing.

Podium Spots & Prize Money

Each race (half and full marathon) will have award ceremonies for the three overall male, female, and non-binary runners.
Prize money will be distributed if at least four runners are registered in that gender, per race.

Full marathon 
First place: $250
Second place: $150
Third place: $75

Half marathon
First place: $150
Second place: $75
Third place: $50

New for 2023: Prizes from On will be given to all winners, including On Ultra Vests for our marathon winners and On caps!

We'll also have On reps at the race for you to demo their new trail running shoe line-up. More info soon!

Course

The Alley Trail Marathon uses the park’s Alley Trail, a 2.2 mile looped route that circumnavigates the park and features a mixture of technical single track, flowing double track, rocks, roots, sand, and grass. The route begins and ends in front of the cabin across from Loretta Lake, where runners will have access to an aid station and drop bag. The half marathon will complete 6 loops and the full marathon 12.

Cut-offs

The race has an 8 hour cut-off for both distances. 8:00am to 4:00pm.

All runners must start their final lap by 3:15pm.
You must cross the start/finish mat from your penultimate lap by 3:15pm.

Changes for 2023

• Course change: the Start/Finish area plus the first 800m of the course will look slightly different this year in an effort to improve the "flow" of the race. An updated course map will be online soon.
• Gender selection: for 2023 we've removed the "Scoring Category" field and added "Gender" as a required field during sign-up.
• Prize money: Prize money will be distributed only if at least four runners are registered (on race day) for a certain race and gender. For example, if there are four non-binary runners registered for the half marathon, prize money will be distributed to the top three upon finishing. If three female runners are registered for the half marathon, prize money will not be distributed. If four or more runners are registered, but less than four start the race, prize money will still be distributed. Due to this change, participants will be visible publicly on this website once registered.

Please contact the Race Director for any questions regarding our changes and policies using the form below.

Runner Perks

TINAR Race Series is committed to giving every runner the best experience possible at our races. From parking to check-in to post-race festivities, we cheer as loud for the first runners as we do the last ones.

All runners will receive:

• Accurate, digital, chip timing. Results go online within minutes, usually.
• A free vegan meal after the race through our caterer. Friends and family can purchase additional meals. All TINAR races are 100% vegan--learn more here.
• High quality event t-shirts. This year instead of traditional "tech" tees we'll be doing super soft Next Level triblend shirts, printed by our friends at Tonic Studios in Grandview.
• Free race photos for download. 1-2 weeks after the race, high quality event photos will be online for you to download, free of charge. See last year's photos here.