2020 Race Registration to Open with Door-Buster Pricing

Registration for the 2020 running of the Horsetooth Half Marathon will open on Labor Day, Monday September 2 with door-buster pricing. The 47th running of the 13.1 mile race will take place Sunday, April 19, 2020, starting to the south of the former location of Hughes Stadium on Dixon Canyon Road and finishing by New Belgium Brewing on Linden Street in Old Town Fort Collins. Registrations will be capped at 2,500 on a first-come, first-served basis.

Prices for this year’s race will remain the same as they have for the last four years. Registration will once again open with one-week-only, door-buster pricing of just $65. Regular early bird pricing of $75 will run through to the New Year.

“It’s our great honor to continue the grand tradition of the Horsetooth Half Marathon. Now in its 47th year, the race has a proud history as Colorado’s oldest road half marathon, and has been a longtime staple of the Fort Collins running community. We’re constantly looking for ways to improve and also to make sure that we offer fantastic value for money by making the race as accessible and affordable as possible,” said race director Nick Clark, owner of race management company Gnar Runners which began managing the race on behalf of the Fort Collins Running Club in 2015.

“All members of the Running Club receive a $20 discount on their registration, which means a $45 race entry if purchased in the early bird window. We don’t think you can find better value than that in Colorado – or across the country – for a major running event. In 2018 & 2019 we saw record crowds with upwards of 2,100 registrations, and for next year’s race we expect to be at our 2,500 runner capacity,” Clark added.

“The Horsetooth Half is a wonderful community event that celebrates many of the things that make Fort Collins such a great town to live in and visit. We’ve got unbelievable scenery on a challenging course, a wonderful in-race atmosphere,incredible crowd support, the deepest elite field in Colorado half marathoning, and a memorable finish line party at New Belgium Brewing, the epicenter of the Fort Collins craft brewing scene,” Clark said.

“We’re also really excited about the great community partnerships that we’ve been building over the last couple of years among our sponsors and non-profit partners. It was fantastic to be able to make financial contributions to over a dozen non-profit groups and school cross country programs this year through the help of our corporate partners, and we plan to grow both the corporate and non-profit partnerships in 2020.”

The Fort Collins Running Club will support runners training for the race through its Horsetooth Half RunningU program, a free 15-week training program beginning in early January and leading up to the race. The training program includes weekly long runs every Sunday. A number of those runs will start and end at New Belgium, with presentations and drink specials after each one. The group training runs are open to everyone, whether registered for the race or not.

Along with the Horsetooth Half Marathon, the Fort Collins Running Club also puts on the FireKracker 5k, the New Year’s Eve Resolution Run 5k, and the Tortoise and Hare races, a series of seven handicapped races beginning in October and ending two weeks before the Horsetooth Half. The races range in distance from 4k (2.5 miles) to 12k (7.5 miles).

2019 Shirts

We’re really excited to reveal the design for this year’s official Horsetooth Half Marathon race shirts. Local Laporte artist Mary Boyts offers a beautiful watercolor rendition of the iconic Horsetooth Rock as seen from the eastern shores of the reservoir in the opening miles of the course.

All registered participants will receive the technical Green Layer shirts with their packets, available the day before the race on Saturday April 13 at the pre-race expo at Raintree Athletic Club. Shirts and bibs will also be available for pickup on race morning.

Horsetooth Half Season Officially Underway

Thanks to all who joined us for the kick-off to the 2019 RunningU Horsetooth Half Marathon training program!

Runners enjoyed a 4-6 mile run on the Poudre Trail with 200+ of their closest friends, followed by New Belgium drink specials, snacks, sponsor giveaways and a training presentation from our friends at Colorado In Motion.

See below for a series of 5 suggested strengthening exercises from Colorado in Motion designed specifically for endurance runners.

Group runs happen each Sunday, with much more information, runs, newsletters & more available for RunningU participants. See the full training schedule.

Some of the action at New Belgium snapped by Terry Grenwlege before and after the kick-off training run. View the full photo album from the morning’s run.

Check Out the 2018 Video Recap

A Race Recap of the 45th Running of the Horsetooth Half Marathon

It was another record year for the 45th running of the Horsetooth Half Marathon, with over 1,750 runners from more than 40 different states crossing the finish line. In both the men’s and women’s races it was a close run thing with tight podiums, lead changes and drama all the way to the finish.

In the men’s race, 2017 King of the Hill Tyler McCandless once again took it out hard from the gun, claiming the race premium for first man over the hill in a record 9:55 (5:40 pace). Eventual race winner Brandon Johnson (1:08:15) crossed the hill in sixth some 40 seconds back. Johnson would have to wait until mile 10 to claim the lead from last year’s champion and course record holder, Gebre Abadi (1:09:02), who would hold on for second place. Colorado Springs-based, Tesfaalem Mehari (1:09:37) ran a controlled race to round out the podium in third, with Scott Dahlberg (1:09:51) and Alejandro Garcia (1:10:28) following in fourth and fifth for the final money spots.

As in the men’s race, a new record was set for the Queen of the Hill with Boulder-based Kyle Blakeslee beating Sam Rivard to the top of Monster Mountain by some 18 seconds (11:49) and besting Brianne Nelson’s record from 2016. By mile 4, a sizable lead pack had formed with former winners Maggie Callahan and Nelson mixing it up with Blakeslee, Rivard, AnnMarie Kirkpatrick and Misiker Demessie. Once off the hills and onto the bike path at mile 9 it was local favorite Kirkpatrick and Ethiopian Demessie racing for the win with Rivard charging hard in third. Coming into the home stretch, Kirkpatrick was able to find the extra gear for the win in a time of 1:20:20 (second fastest ever), just 14 seconds ahead of Demessie in second and 30 seconds ahead of Rivard in third. Last year’s champ, Callahan would hold on for fourth (1:22:05) ahead of training partner Blakeslee in fifth (1:23:12).

Taking home the prize money in the men’s master’s division was local favorite and previous winner Steve Folkerts (1:22:58), who beat last year’s masters champ Dan Clark by less than a minute. In the women’s division, Fort Collins’ Jenny Powelka (1:35:55) finished just over two minutes ahead of Vail’s Katie Crofton.

Overall and a ge group award winners took home beautiful pottery awards from famed local potter Amy Hayman. For those that weren’t able to collect their awards at the post-race prize giving, they are available for pickup for the next few weeks from Altitude Running, Fort Collins. And for those that did not get a commemorative pint glass at the finish, they are available for pickup at the New Belgium Brewing Tasting Room.

The deep field and fast times were aided by the perfect running conditions we were blessed with this year. Race morning temperatures ranged from the low 40s into the mid 50s and gave way to beautiful post-race conditions which were perfect for hanging out and enjoying music from The Patti Fiasco at the New Belgium Finish Line Party. Some years you get lucky!

Full results are available from the results page of the race website
Official race photos from our 5 race photographers are available here.

In closing, we’d like to thank all of our wonderful volunteers that helped out in many different capacities to help make the 2018 running of the race a success. Thank You! We’d also like to thank our seven wonderful top-tier sponsors who have supported this year’s event with total enthusiasm.

Please visit our sponsor page to see the full list of business sponsors and non-profit volunteer organizations who helped make this year’s race a success.

Pre-race details for the 2018 Horsetooth Half Marathon

Thank you for choosing to participate in the 45th running of the Horsetooth Half Marathon. This year we’ll be welcoming record numbers of runners to undertake the journey from Hughes Stadium to New Belgium Brewing, and we’re excited that you’ll be a part of that journey.

While all relevant race information is available on the race website, we’d like to draw your attention to a few important race details and to also highlight a few of our partners who are helping to make this year’s event the best yet. We’re especially thankful to our top-tier sponsors who have all become integral parts of the race planning and execution process.

Packet Pickup

Pre-race packet pickup will be at R aintree Athletic Club on Saturday April 14 from noon until 6:00pm. Raintree is located on the NW corner of Drake and Shields at 2555 S. Shields St.

In order to avoid lines on race morning, we encourage you to pick up your packets on Saturday. If you are not able to make it to Saturday’s packet pickup, then we will also be offering race morning packet pickup from 7:00am – 8:15am at our new staging location on the private lot directly to the south of the race start.

* Please look up your bib number HERE*

** We have a very limited number of entries left. If you have friends of family interested in running, we suggest they register by Friday.

*** Per our race registration policy, we cannot offer transfers, refunds or deferrals to 2019.

Race Start, Parking and Busing

The race will begin at 8:30am on County Road 42C (Dixon Canyon Rd) adjacent to the southwest gate of Hughes Stadium, directly under Dixon Canyon Dam. Parking will be at the Holiday Twin Drive In. All Drive-In parking wll be from the south, off Overland Trail Rd (right turn only). We expect parking to be tight, so please carpool with friends or get dropped off if you can. Additional parking is avaiable on city streets directly to the north of the Drive-In.

Runner drop-off will be on the hard shoulder of the westboud lane of CR 42C. Drop-off will be ‘airport style’ so please be ready to ‘de-car’ once you arrive. All drop-off access onto CR 42C will be from the north off Overland Trail (right turn only). There will be no U-turns on CR 42C once runners are dropped off. Drop off vehicles will exit to the west and can circle back into town south on 38e or north on Centennial.

The Drive-In is located 3/4 of a mile east of the race start. Race morning registration, port-a-johns and packet pickup will all be on the private lot directly to the south of the race start. Please plan accordingly in terms of the time you’ll need to get from your car to the start. We advise getting to the Drive-In no later than 7:30.

If you need clothing or other gear transported to the finish, a bag drop will be available on race morning at the packet pickup and registration location. A tag from your race bib must be pinned to your bag prior to dropping off (we will not be providing bags). You will need to show your race bib to collect your bag at the finish. While we will make every effort possible to ensure all bags are reunited with their owners, we strongly recommend that you not pack valuables in your gear bag.

Free busing will be available from the finish at New Belgium back to the Drive-In parking. Buses will be running from 10:00am to 2:00pm.

New Belgium Post Race Party

The famed Horsetooth Half Marathon post race party will take place on the grounds immediately to the south of New Belgium Brewing. All race participants are welcome to enjoy free beer from New Belgium, in addition to post-race burritos from The Rio Grande Mexican Restaurant with cinnamon rolls from the Great Harvest Bread Company and cookies from Mary’s Mountain Cookies (Old Town). Non-alcoholic beverages will be available from Eldorado Spring Water.

Beers will be served only to those runners who have shown proof of age and are wearing an over-21 wristband. This can be taken care of at packet pickup on Saturday (wristband must be attached then) or at the entrance to the beer garden after the race.

Wristbands will also be available to friends and family for a suggested donation of $10. All proceeds will be donated to the Teaching Tree Early Childhood Learning Center.

With your race run, and food and beverages in hand, please sit back in the beer garden or picnic area and enjoy live music from The Patti Fiasco. Or peruse the post-race expo booths and enjoy samples from vendors or a complimentary massage from our volunteer masseuses.

Food for family and friends will be avilable from food trucks at New Belgium. Everyone is welcome to enjoy the live music and vendor expo.

On-Course Entertainment

Weather permitting, we will have on course music at three separate locations courtesy of the Blevins Middle School Jazz Ensemble, the African Drum Collective of Fort Collins, and the Poudre High School Drum Line.

Pace Groups

If you’re looking to hit a specific finish time, we have a team of pacers lined up to help you get there. If you have questions related to pacing, then be sure to stop by the pace group table at packet pickup on Saturday. We’ll have pace leaders for the following goal times: 1:30, 1:45, 2:00, 2:15, 2:30.

Given the hilly nature of the course, mile splits will not be even. We will have suggested mile-for-mile pacing charts available at packet pickup.

Or, check out sample pacing splits here.

Aid Stations

Vfuel sports drink and water will be available at all five aid stations. There will also be a port-a-john at each aid station, in addition to a first aid kit. Additional medical coverage will be provided by Poudre Valley Hospital EMS. Aid stations will be spaced out and staffed as follows:

Mile 2.8 Sponsored by Altitude Running and benefitting Athletes in Tandem.
Mile 4.8 Sponsored by the Rodelle Vanilla Day 5k and benefiting Project Self Sufficiency
Mile 8.5 Sponsored by Justin Liddle DMD and benefiting the Blevins Middle School Cross Country Team.
Mile 10.3 Sponsored by Orangetheory Fitness and benefiting Teaching Tree.
Mile 12.1 Sponsored by Countryside Animal Hospital and benefiting the Fort Collins Cat Rescue.
Finish Line Food Sponsored by Hensel Phelps and benefiting Larimer County Food Bank

Additional Information

Be sure to read through the race website for additional race details, instructions, rules, and directions.

Thank you and have a great race!

Fort Collins Running Club

LuLuLemon Pace Team

Once again, we will be offering pacers for the following goal times:

1:30 (6:52 per mile pace) – Ryan Perrich; Fort Collins, CO
1:45 (8:01 per mile pace) – Chris Aronson; Fort Collins, CO
2:00 (9:10 per mile pace) – Will Greenwood; Fort Collins, CO
2:15 (10:20 per mile pace) – Joel White; Fort Collins, CO
2:30 (11:30 per mile pace) – Melody White & Dan Yap; Fort Collins, CO

Thank you to LuLuLemon for outfitting our pace team this year. If you want to learn a little more about the runners pacing the different groups, please see the recent profiles on the race facebook page.

We will also have a pacer table at Saturday’s packet pickup at Raintree Athletic Club where you can chat with our pacers and pick up a custom-made Horsetooth Half split guide for the 5 different goal finish times. You can also check out the split guide at the link below.

Check out our Horsetooth Half Pacing Chart.

Patti Fiasco to Headline Post-Race Party

Hey music (and running) fans, we’re excited to announce that the post-race celebrations for the 45th running of Colorado’s oldest half marathon will be jet fueled by local rock n’ roll legends, The Patti Fiasco. Add in beer from New Belgium Brewing and burritos from Rio Grande Mexican Restaurant, and we’ve got ourselves a party. Music will run from 10:00am until the awards with a short set after the awards.

We’ll also have music out on course in strategic locations to keep you motivated all the way to the finish line where you’ll be able to relax and enjoy the music, food and post-race expo. Be sure to bring your friends and family!