Nantucket Half Athlete Guide
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Nantucket Half Marathon/Quarter Marathon Athlete Guide
Welcome to the 14th running of the Nantucket Half Marathon/Quarter Marathon on October 12th, 2025 at Bartlett’s Farm and the Nantucket Land Bank’s Smooth Hummocks Coastal Preserve. The Half Marathon will begin at 8:00 am, followed shortly after by the Quarter Marathon at 8:15 am, and the Quarter-Mile kid’s race at 8:20 am. Bib Pickup – bibs will be available for pickup on Friday October 10th from 3:00-6:00 pm at the Nantucket Run Centre – 36 Centre Street, and on Saturday October 12th from 9:00-11:00 am at Bartlett’s Farm, and 3:00-6:00 pm at Haulover at 7 Salem Street. We will have limited bib pick up for those who travel over by ferry on the morning of the race, but only by reservation. To arrange for this, please email jmeehan207@gmail.com. If you want a shirt - pick up it up on Friday and Saturday or by reservation for ferry travelers on Sunday only! Race Location and Parking - We have the privilege to run from the historic Bartlett’s Farm located at 33 Bartlett Farm Road and onto the Nantucket Land Bank’s Smooth Hummock Preserve. The Farm is only 2.5 miles from downtown Nantucket and there is parking. We are encouraging participants to ride their bikes or walk to the race. If you do drive, please follow the parking signs and attendants. Do not park in the front Bartlett’s Store lot. Parking will be available at Cisco Brewery parking lot on Bartlett Farm Road. There will also be a drop-off zone for taxis and ride shares. Please arrive early! The race will go on time with or without you as the song goes! Finally, there is no parking on Hellers Way near the start! Do not drive on the course or have your friends park on the course! Spectators are urged to park at Cisco Brewery parking and walk to the race course. ARRIVE EARLY WE START SHARP AT 8:00 AM! Course - The Half Marathon course will be two loops of 6.5 miles through the Nantucket Land Bank’s Smooth Hummocks Coastal Preserve. Note – the Quarter Marathon will be a single loop of the same course as the Half Marathon and will be slightly longer than 6.5 miles. The course is signed and we will have course marshals and a police detail but the roads will not be closed to cars! We strongly encourage you not to use earbuds/headphones so you can remain aware of your surroundings, including approaching cars. The start and finish will be on Bartlett’s Farm property and will be mostly on dirt roads with a few sand patches about thirty yards long each. We live on a spit of sand so don’t complain about the sand patches! The start from the Farm is narrow, so please be careful and respectful of fellow runners. Otherwise, surfaces are hard packed dirt roads, three patches of sand, some pavement and the Hummock Pond Road bike path. There may be water pockets if we have significant rain the week before the race. It is a beautiful course with pond, ocean, beach and dune views traversing one of the few remaining coastal sand plains in the world! See Map - https://www.hellodrifter.com/embedded/v1/agQkCH There are four aid stations at mile 2, 4 and at 5.75 miles and at the Farm/Start (and again on loop 2). Please leave your trash near the aid stations and do not discard on our globally rare coastal sand plain! There will be a Nantucket Fire Department Paramedic, a registered nurse and a first aid station on site at the Farm as well. Changing Race Distances: You will be able to move from the Half Marathon to the Quarter Marathon distance, but you must notify us before bib pick up and your bib number will be changed accordingly. There is no ability to trade up to the Half Marathon distance from the Quarter Marathon. If you want to change to the Quarter Marathon now you can email jmeehan207@gmail.com. Course Closure: In the interest of the safety and well-being of our volunteers, we are limiting our course support to 3 ½ hours(11:30 am), which equates to a 16 minute/mile pace for the Half Marathon. That is not a walking pace! We will begin shutting down the aid station at mile 8.5 at 10:30, mile 10.5 at 11:00 am and mile 12.25 at 11:15. At 11:30 am, the timing company will wrap it up at the finish line since they have to catch a boat! If you want to walk the race please do the Quarter Marathon! If you think it will take you longer than 3 ½ hours, please plan accordingly and carry your own fluid and food. We will be wrapping it up at 11:30 am! Awards - There will be cash/gift certificate awards for the top three overall male and female for both race distances. The race also provides gift certificates (Island Kitchen, Haulover and Run Centre) to the top three in each age category for the Half Marathon and only the male and female age group winners for the Quarter Marathon. We will also have a non-binary category. The age groups are ten-year spans according to United States Track and Field rules. The Award ceremony will begin at 10:15 am. You must be there to claim an award. We will also be awarding the annual David Glidden Fellowship award to recognize a person who has supported fellow runners and athletes on Nantucket. Post-Race Food - We will have the best doughnuts on Nantucket from the Nantucket Bake Shop, bananas, energy bars and oranges at the finish. Stop and Shop kindly donates the food. Bartlett’s Farm has a great deli counter, breakfast sandwiches, and prepared foods as well as other take-out items. The Farm will be open at 7:00 am. Bartlett’s Farm is on the Toast App and we recommend that you order ahead. https://order.toasttab.com/online/bartlettsfarm. Kids Race – The race is free, but you must pre-register on the Run Sign Up website. All runners, twelve and under, will get a free pumpkin so we need to know who is going to run. The distance is a sprint of .25 mile. Parents are welcome to run with their young athletes! Shake Out Run – Nantucket Run Centre will host a shakeout run from Town starting at 36 Centre Street on Saturday, October 11th at 8:00 am. Bridgette Hynes will lead this run and the store will be open after the run. Charitable Causes: The Nantucket Half Marathon is an all-volunteer effort with no paid staff - by the Nantucket Athletic Association and generous Islander volunteers. The net proceeds are used to plan next year’s race and more importantly to support youth sports and health needs on Nantucket. We support Nantucket Swimming, Nantucket Adult Learn to Swim, the STAR Program, Nantucket Conservation Foundation, PASCON, Swim Across America-Nantucket, Addictions Solutions and the Nantucket High School Cross Country and Swimming Teams to name a few of our charities. Nantucket Athletic Association also sponsors free family swim and Adult Learn to Swim at the Nantucket Community Pool. Runners’ Discounts – Great discounts available to runners who support our sponsors. Bartlett’s Farm is offering a 20% discount on all items the day of the race other than wine or beer. For online orders use the code: Runners. Bartlett’s opens at 7:00 am on race day. A bib will have to be shown. Bartlett’s has terrific hot food, apples, produce, kombucha, gear and Island apparel and other treats and is worth stopping in after the race. Nantucket Run Centre will offer a 10% discount to runners all weekend as well. Lavender Farms will also be providing massages at the end of the race. First Responders Team Challenge: There will be a team challenge between the Nantucket Police Department Team, the United States Coast Guard and the Nantucket Cottage Hospital. They will be competing for the Scallop Cup – team trophy. The Coast Guard is the defending champs! Sponsors: We have great sponsors and all of these businesses are managed by either runners or multi-sport endurance athletes. These folks are terrific to do business with! We ask that you consider patronizing them when you are on Island. Michael Sweeney Construction, WACK -97.7 and Quahog Radio and the Nantucket Bank-Rockland Trust are our Gold sponsors. Our Silver sponsors are Lavender Farms, Congdon and Coleman, Nantucket Run Centre, Fisher Realty, Topham Design, Botticelli and Pohl, Island Kitchen, the Haulover, Cape Cod 5 Bank, Nantucket Bake Shop and the Monument Running Group. Our Bronze sponsors are S.M. Roethke Design, and Stop & Shop. Race is Sold Out: As predicted in earlier emails we sold out of the Half Marathon in mid-August. Participation is capped as we are a small island with limited health and safety resources, and do not have a waitlist. Like most races, we do not allow bib transfer or refunds. Refunds and deferrals are difficult to manage and don’t recognize the cost of putting these events on. If you can’t make it, your registration fees go to support a great race and Island causes. Please remember that we are an all-volunteer effort and all proceeds go to support youth sports, Island athletics or to put on the race. [FM1] [JM2] Land Sponsors Bartlett’s Farm – Bartlett’s Farm was founded in the 1800’s as a family farm. The Bartlett family continue that tradition of growing and providing wholesome food to Nantucket on over 125 acres. The Farm has evolved over time and was once a primary source of meat for the Island as a cattle farm. The Farm now has a splendid produce offering of fresh fruit and vegetables. It provides hot and cold prepared foods, a curated wine and beer offering and many essential groceries. The Bartlett family farm is committed to preserving the open spaces that makes Nantucket an ecological wonder. Nantucket Land Bank and the Smooth Hummocks - Smooth Hummocks Coastal Preserve is a vast area that provides unfettered access to some of the world’s rarest habitats – sandplain grassland and coastal heathland. The Nantucket Land Bank has actively and sensitively managed the habitat in Smooth Hummocks for decades to preserve this unique assemblage of plants and wildlife for the twin goals of ecological conservation and recreation to maintain and enhance this globally rare habitat and ensure the residents and visitors of Nantucket can enjoy it in perpetuity. To learn more about the ecology of the Smooth Hummocks Coastal Preserve, please see www.nantucketlandbank.org. Volunteers: Seventy-five per cent of the runners are off-Island or seasonal residents. Ninety-Five per cent of the volunteers are year-round residents. If you want to reshape this paradigm, please send me an email to volunteer. Please ask your friends and family to volunteer by signing up on Sign-up Genius Ap and select a spot: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080F49ACAE2CA7F49-56826605-nantucket Or send me an email – jmeehan207@gmail.com. The Dhali Lama says the key to happiness is service to others! Over half our runners are under the age of 30 but we have less than five of that age group who actually volunteer! Break the mold and volunteer! Have a Great Race! Revel in the Beauty of the Race Course and the Island!
Jim Meehan Race Director
Frank McGillin Race Director frank@mcgillin.net
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