Official Charity program exands at Eversource Hartford Marathon

We are excited to announce the expansion of Official Charities for the 2025 Eversource Hartford Marathon.  This October, 30 charity groups will be involved to raise awareness for local causes and add to the more than $9.5 million raised through the event.

Official Charity Program Grows to Thirty Partners for

2025 Eversource Hartford Marathon and Half Marathon

More than $9.5 million has been raised for community causes through the event

The Hartford Marathon Foundation is proud to welcome thirty Official Charity partners for the 2025 Eversource Hartford Marathon and Half Marathon, Team 26.2 Relay and Charity 5K on Saturday, October 11. The expansion of the program provides more local nonprofits with the opportunity to rally participants, supporters and volunteers to raise funds and awareness around Connecticut’s premier race event. Official Charities support community and philanthropic initiatives across the region, offering race participants a built-in platform to bring deeper meaning and greater positive impact to their race.

 

Eversource Hartford Marathon and Half Marathon 2025 Official Charities:

2-4-1 Sports

Achilles International-Connecticut
Alzheimer’s Association-Connecticut

Boame Helping Hands Foundation

Community Partners in Action

Connecticut Children’s Foundation

CT Coalition Against Domestic Violence
Dog Star Rescue

Donate Life Connecticut

DT Cares

Dylan’s Wings of Courage

For All Ages
Girls on the Run Greater Connecticut

Hartford Hospital

Hospital for Special Care

Jordan Porco Foundation

Megan Schulman Memorial Foundation

Midwest Food Bank New England

New Horizons Domestic Violence Services

Operation Fuel

Postpartum Support Intl, CT Chapter
Ron Foley Foundation
Safe Haven of Greater Waterbury, Inc.

Shine Your Light CT

Special Olympics Connecticut

SUN Scholars Inc.

The Riley Farm Rescue

The Salvation Army

Tommy Fund for Childhood Cancer

Traveler on a Mission

 

“The growth of the Official Charity program signifies the importance of supporting community groups as well as the generosity of the local running community to bring more meaning to their participation,” said Josh Miller, President of the Hartford Marathon Foundation. “Rallying event participants, volunteers and companies to support local charitable efforts is at the heart of our work and we appreciate the generosity of Eversource and our partners who enable that effort.”

 

The event also provides a unique opportunity for local companies and organizations to gain visibility and employee/member engagement benefits while supporting community causes. Through the HMF Community Partner Program, opportunities are available for companies to engage in the event and direct a donation to an Official Charity of choice (for program details or to participate, contact deb@hartfordmarathon.com).

 

More than $9.5 million has been raised for charity through the event since its inception in 1994. With over $300,000 in charity funds raised last year, the Eversource Hartford Marathon and Half Marathon also generated an economic boost of approximately $12 million for the region, hosting 10,000 race participants.

 

Eversource Hartford Marathon and Half Marathon registration is open and the 2025 HMF race calendar is available at www.hartfordmarathon.com.  To run, walk or volunteer on behalf of an Official Charity partner, find more information here.

 

About the Hartford Marathon Foundation

A nonprofit organization founded in 1994, the Hartford Marathon Foundation (HMF) mission is to promote healthy living through fitness and physical activity for people of all ages, abilities, ethnicities, gender identities, orientations and experience levels, and to use HMF events to support charity, sustainability, tourism and economic growth in communities. Located in East Hartford, Connecticut, the Foundation organizes more than 30 annual races, including the Eversource Hartford Marathon and Half Marathon and the Susie Beris, MD, Youth Running Program. For more information, visit www.HartfordMarathon.com and follow on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

Rocky Neck meet-ups

If you’ve never experienced the roads and trails of Rocky Neck State Park, consider joining our friend, run coach and local resident-expert Chaz Koch for a meet-up run to check them out!

The coordinator for our charity partner, Operation Paws on the Ground, Chaz graciously offered to open his Saturday runs as informal group fun runs to give a glimpse of what to expect for the April 13th Rocky Neck Runfest.  Meet-ups start from the main office/starting line of the race.

Saturday, March 29, 8:30 AM - Trails*

Don’t expect a rail trail/multi-use paved path at Rocky Neck. The trails are well groomed but tactical, with rocks, roots, hills and likely some mud. They’re also quite beautiful, with stunning views over Long Island Sound, along the Four Mile River tidal area and the Bride Brook marsh. Chaz knows these trails well and will help familiarize you. Read up on the course ahead of time or send it to your Strava. TRAIL COURSE INFO 

Saturday, April 5, 8:30 AM - Roads*

The road course runs primarily along the main stretch and camper’s only roads with a short loop through a section of the campgrounds. The course features beautiful views of the Bride Brook marsh and finishes on the lawn overlooking Long Island Sound. ROAD COURSE

Note, these fun runs are free and open to the public - please consider a donation to support Operation Paws on the Ground in thanks to our friend and partner for taking the time to host!  DONATE

*not hosted/managed by the Hartford Marathon Foundation

2025 Race Schedule & Insights

We are closing out another year with gratefulness for this community showing up strong through the year! Looking ahead to the 2025 race schedule and series options to help keep you motivated, we also want to highlight updates and explain a few principles we plan by.

What’s new this year?

It’s exciting to expand the Thursday evening summer races to include entirely new distances and courses. You may remember scrambles of the past…while we’re starting/finishing two of the Riverfront events in similar places, courses will be published ahead and set to the distances of 5K and 4 Mile. The brand new event on the other side of the river in East Hartford will allow us to get in a 5 Mile experience. The Riverfront Summer Series will include a custom quarter-zip for series participants, a different spin to upgrade the race experience.

With only so many weekends in the season, and the challenging reality of staffing and enlisting volunteers to support race events, we’re mindful of what can be added without taking away events you know and love. We published the schedule to open up registration on January 1, but do know there are elements to events and some new ideas still being worked on.

Our hope is to provide opportunities offering competitive runners, those at different paces who prefer varying distances, newbies and walkers the encouragement to set longer-term goals. The variety of multi-event challenges is intended to help you take an interest or commitment in one event and expand it to others, with some additional support and motivation along the way.

Of note for back-of-pack runners, we’re also trying to cater more to what that experience feels like in locations we can accommodate longer course limits. As such, multiple options exist to keep motivated through the season, including Lucky Challenge and Li’l Lucky walker-friendly events in March. The new HMF Sampler has great options for various distances and for walkers. As well, the end-of-season Sleigh the Ks challenge can easily be made to suit a variety of run or walk pace goals.

Expect a new community engagement program at our Mystic Half Marathon & 10K, allowing participants opportunity to support local charities and ensuring supporters and volunteers can get expanded access to this typically sold-out race experience.

If you want to get a deal on race pricing, you have to register early! It’s as simple as that.

Outside of the weeklong early pricing sale from January 1-7, each event pricing structure is based on its own timeline. Early registration patterns give us an indication for planning logistics, but if we over-estimate too much, wasted resources become a concern (i.e. excess medals, wrong size race shirt inventory, logistic overspends, etc.).

We do our best to plan all of those necessary resources in advance with some flexibility for growth.

What does “sold out” actually mean?

Given a number of events sold out in 2024, we want to explain a few things. First off, know that we don’t like shutting anyone out of a race field, we want you there! It becomes necessary to close registration when we hit established capacities though to ensure that everyone who registered previously has the services, swag and experience they signed up for. Overselling on an event risks taking those away, and in most cases, it’s not even possible to safely accommodate last-minute changes since important aspects like police staffing and course support are secured in advance.

It’s important to note there are some fixed parameters when it comes to course capacity – meaning no additional people can safely fit in an area to park, run, finish, etc. Those are not negotiable, even if we sold out the venue capacity months in advance.

Moral of the story – if it’s a goal race for you, register ahead of time. Watch our social media updates and Web site, but know that once we get to that limited capacity status, we can’t just fit you in after registration closes because we like you (as much as we might want to!).

Please reach out with questions or share feedback, we enjoy hearing from you (not just when something goes awry) and we will continue to try out best to support you through the next year. Don’t forget to visit the Support Hub for seasonal content and resources available from experts and partners.

Happy holidays, and best wishes for a great 2025!

More CT high school teams receive support

At our core, HMF is committed to help people of all ages and experience levels be active and to foster a welcoming and supportive environment at events. As part of this mission, it’s an honor for us to support a love of running among young people in a variety of ways – all made possible by your donations, grants and sponsor support.

 

Earlier this month, we had the pleasure of presenting two very deserving high school cross country programs with donations to support their teams.

The 25 members of the Maloney High School cross country team in Meriden will benefit from the $2,500 stipend to help pay for supplies they wouldn’t otherwise be able to get. Funds will support team apparel and uniforms, entry costs to other cross country meets, and exercise equipment to help them succeed for years to come. Described by Maloney cross country coach Derek Destefano as a “dream come true for our team”, the stipend helps overcome some limitations due to team size and competition among other school sports to fundraise.

As a coach, my goal is to show student-athletes that anything is possible with the right attitude, commitment and if you believe in yourself.

Our student-athletes have a wide range of backgrounds but when we are together, everything at home goes away, even if it’s only for a few hours per day. Our team is likea family. We support one another and grow because we push each other.

- Derek Destefano

For Windham High School in Willimantic, the 10 members of the cross country team are using the same 15-year old warm ups that the school cannot fund replacements of. The $2,500 stipend will provide new apparel and support coach Jill Trentham’s efforts to improve student-athletes’ performance by enhancing their experience in running and knowledge associated with the technical aspect of the sport. She has seen that as her athletes gain confidence, they start to improve.

Many times, athletes come to practice with improper footwear simply because they are
unable to afford these costs. Being a member of the cross country team not only
provides students with self-discipline, self-esteem and social skills; it has a positive
effect on success in academics.
- Jill Trentham

Last spring, donations supplied warm-ups and uniforms to the Bulkeley High School Track & Field team to help them proudly represent their school.

 

The high school program was established through the generosity of Dr. Susan Beris, a Southbury pediatrician and lifelong runner. HMF greatly expanded its platform of youth running programs in 2022 under the umbrella of the Susie Beris, MD Youth Running Program with a mission to build lifelong runners with additional resources and opportunities in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
 

Please consider adding a donation through an upcoming HMF race registration or donating directly HERE.

 

 

Food & beverage details for race day in Hartford

There’s a lot to know about race day at the Eversource Hartford Marathon – where you can get a good cup of coffee on race morning often tops the list! 

We get that it can be a little overwhelming, especially to first-timers and out-of-towners, and we’re doing our best to help participants and spectators understand what is available to them to eat and drink at and nearby Bushnell Park to help plan ahead.

SATURDAY

Athlete Food Tent – must be registered participant with bib to access

• Tortilla Soup (vegetarian), fresh-made and hot from Flanders Fish Market
• Freshly baked LuAnn’s Bakery oatmeal bread (dairy/egg free)
• Chocolate milk from Garelick Farms 
• Snacks, including Lesser Evil popcorn, Bakery On Main granola, banana

Beer Garden – One complimentary beverage for registered participants 21+ w/ID, also available for purchase (credit only) 

• Urban Lodge Brewing Run Hartford Session Ale, Open Trail, Stop n Go
• Vizzy Raspberry Lemonade Hard Seltzer
• Athletic Brewing non-alcoholic Run Wild IPA, Free Way Hazy IPA, Upside Dawn Golden Ale, Athletic Lite
• Bear’s Smokehouse BBQ (for purchase from food truck)

In Bushnell Park (for purchase)

• Coffee, baked goods from Bloom Bake Shop
• Coffee, baked goods from LuAnn’s Bakery
•  Jersey Mike’s Subs
• Baked goods from Brown Butter Creations
• Pre-packaged protein bars from HintFit
• Acai Bowls from Nautical Bowls
• Coffee at Travelin’ Toms food truck on Elm St.
• PLUS – samples from Lesser Evil Snacks

Nearby

• Bear’s Smokehouse BBQ, 25 Front Street
• Bloom Bake Shop, 80 Pratt Street
• Red Rock Tavern, 369 Capitol Avenue 
• Urban Lodge Brewing, 88 Pratt Street

There are additional deals and extras offered across a number of local businesses to participants showing their bib between Thursday and Sunday.  Check back for updates on WEEKEND DEALS

The greater Hartford region has a lot to offer - Yelp and Google reviews are helpful to scout out something in particular.  We appreciate you supporting local businesses over race weekend that support race participants, volunteers and the community!

Don’t forget - everything kicks off on Thursday, 10/17, at the Party on Pratt. Just across from the XL Center in Hartford, Pratt Street is a fun stop before or after visiting the Eversource Hartford Marathon Packet Pickup and Expo.  

From 5:00 – 8:00 PM, enjoy a block party with live music, family friendly-games and specials at Urban Lodge Brewing, Sunberry and Vaughan’s Public House.

 

2024 Inspiration Team at the Eversource Hartford Marathon

Since the inception of the Inspiration Team concept in 2011, it’s been our great honor to highlight truly incredible stories of resilience, commitment, compassion and kindness from within the running community. Members of the 2024 team will once again share their inspiring journeys to overcome obstacles, raise awareness for worthy missions and honor special people or purposes connecting them to race day on October 19 at the Eversource Hartford Marathon and Half Marathon.

 

Please join us in welcoming members of the 2024 Inspiration Team, supported by The Hartford:

Anumeha Singh & the Hartford Hospital Emergency Department – Half Marathon

Bill Bourgoin, Ellington – Half Marathon

Bonnie Lees, New Fairfield – Half Marathon

Chris Scott, Manchester – Marathon

David & Blake Coutier, Bedford, NH – Half Marathon

Debra Kubas, Wallingford – Marathon

Kerry Belch, Manchester – Volunteer

Jenny Koonz, New Salem, MA – Marathon

Meg Moore, Middlebury – Charity 5K

Nyema Cranford, Manchester – Charity 5K

Paul Trehern, Waterford – Marathon

 

“There are countless individuals with incredibly moving stories who are motivated to reach their goals with us in Hartford. We’re honored to share some of their journeys through the great tradition of the Inspiration Team,” said Josh Miller, President of the Hartford Marathon Foundation. “We look forward to celebrating their achievements and are grateful to the community partners, sponsors and volunteers who all play such an integral role in making race day a success each year.”

 

Members of the 2024 Inspiration Team will be profiled within the Eversource Hartford Marathon Insider’s Guide and receive complimentary race registration, the Pre Perks hospitality experience and custom event apparel and shoes provided by Altra Running.

 

Please help us in celebrating them and encouraging each other to be inspired and get motivated!

 

 

Meet the 2024 Official Charities of the Eversource Hartford Marathon

 

Official Charities Announced for

2024 Eversource Hartford Marathon and Half Marathon

More than $9.2 million has been raised for community causes through the event

 

East Hartford, CT – The Hartford Marathon Foundation proudly announces the 2024 Official Charity partners for the Eversource Hartford Marathon and Half Marathon, Team 26.2 Relay and Charity 5K. The premier marathon event in Connecticut will take place on Saturday, October 19, 2024, providing its 21 Official Charities an opportunity to rally participants, supporters and volunteers to raise funds and awareness. Official Charities support community and philanthropic initiatives across the region, offering participants a built-in platform to bring deeper meaning and greater positive impact to their race.

 

The race event also provides unique opportunity for local companies and organizations to gain visibility and employee/member engagement benefits while supporting community causes. Through the HMF Community Partner Program, opportunities are available for companies to engage in the event and direct a donation to an Official Charity of choice.

Eversource Hartford Marathon and Half Marathon 2024 Official Charities:

Achilles International-Connecticut Chapter
Alzheimer’s Association

Anchor Health

Chrysalis Center, Inc.
Connecticut Children’s Foundation

CT Coalition Against Domestic Violence
Donate Life Connecticut

For All Ages
Girls on the Run Connecticut

Habitat for Humanity of North Central CT

Hospital for Special Care

Joe Andruzzi Foundation

Jordan Porco Foundation

Megan Schulman Memorial Foundation

Postpartum Support Intl, CT Chapter
Ron Foley Foundation
Salvation Army of Greater Hartford Area

SUNscholarsinc

The Riley Farm Rescue

Tighed Together

Urban League of Greater Hartford

 

“Our Official Charities include long-standing and new partners that support meaningful causes and initiatives that benefit the region,” said Josh Miller, President of the Hartford Marathon Foundation. “Event participants, volunteers and local companies continue to step up to support and rally around our charity partners, enhancing the incredibly positive impact of the marathon that is made possible by Eversource and our generous sponsor partners.”

 

More than $9.2 million has been raised for charity through the event since its inception in 1994, with $340,000 raised last year in the event’s 30^th running. Last year’s Eversource Hartford Marathon and Half Marathon generated an economic boost of $10.7 million for the region.

 

Eversource Hartford Marathon and Half Marathon registration is open and the 2024 HMF race calendar is available at www.hartfordmarathon.com.  For more details on the HMF Community Partner Program, contact deb@hartfordmarathon.com.

 

About the Hartford Marathon Foundation

A nonprofit organization founded in 1994, the Hartford Marathon Foundation (HMF) mission is to promote healthy living through fitness and physical activity for people of all ages, abilities, ethnicities, gender identities, orientations and experience levels, and to use HMF events to support charity, sustainability, tourism and economic growth in communities. Located in East Hartford, Connecticut, the Foundation organizes more than 30 annual races, including the Eversource Hartford Marathon and Half Marathon and the Susie Beris, MD, Youth Running Program. For more information, visit www.HartfordMarathon.com and follow on Facebook at HMF Events, Twitter at @runHMF and Instagram at HMF_Events